XN000022-1996-06-27 — Page 45

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In order to achieve this balance, the Bill takes the following approach to the use of title. It will make registration mandatory for

any person who wishes to use the title "Registered Social Worker" (or the initials "R.S.W."); and

any person who wishes to use the words "social work" or "social worker" to describe his professional qualifications or his profession as being the social work profession.

This would mean, for example, that a person who spends his helping street sleepers or drug addicts would not break the law if he described himself as a social worker engaged in social work so long as he did not claim to be professionally qualified or providing a professional service.

The Registration Board

Registration will be undertaken by a Social Workers Registration Board which will set and review the qualification standards for the registration of social workers, administer the registration system, formulate and approve codes of practice, and handle disciplinary matters.

The Board will comprise 15 members. Eight will be elected from among registered social workers. In addition to the Director of Social Welfare or his representative, there will also be six members appointed by the Governor. These will include not less than three lay members who are not social workers, and two registered social workers who are public officers.

The Board will be financed by fees collected from registered social workers. It will appoint its own Registrar and employ other persons to assist in the performance of its functions and responsibilities.

Disciplinary Proceedings

The Bill will also empower the Board to receive complaints against registered social workers, and to appoint disciplinary committees to conduct inquiries into complaints and recommend appropriate action. To maintain the integrity of the social work profession, a registered social worker must be permanently removed from registration if he is convicted of any of the serious offences listed in Schedule 2 to the Bill. Similarly, any person who has been convicted of any of these offences would be ineligible for registration. A person who is aggrieved by a decision of the Board will have the right of appeal to the Court of Appeal.