Date Published: 1 March 2022
Last week, ANZASW challenged the Social Workers Registration Board's (SWRB) decision to increase the cost of social work registration by filing a complaint with Parliament’s Regulations Review Committee. The Committee considers complaints about regulations (such as SWRB's fees notices) against a number of criteria. They have the ability to recommend to Parliament that a regulation is disallowed.
For many social workers, their employer pays the cost of registration and so this decision is unlikely to impact on them. However, we know for many in the community and iwi sector, employers often don't pay (or if they do, their funds are tight). We've heard clearly the impact the increases will have on our members. The cost of social work registration has increased by 64% since 2019 (to $605 per year). Community social workers are unable to afford this increase and it will add increased pressure to the, already stretched, sector.
The registration fee increases will have a significant impact on the social work profession and social workers may no longer be able to afford to practice. Our members have told us: “I will not earn enough to continue to practice” and “the proposed new fees are going to be 4 weeks’ worth of groceries for my whānau. This is going to cause a lot of financial stress”.
The SWRB 2021 workforce survey (released this week) showed 13.3% of respondents were planning to leave the social work profession or reduce their hours in the next 5 years. Pay and conditions and workload were key drivers behind the intention to leave. Increasing the cost of registration will only drive this trend further.
We're calling on the Government to fund the SWRB until the pay equity claim and sector funding issues can be resolved. The Government already pays for the cost of registration for those social workers it employs and so it is only fair they pay for the social workers who it funds in the community.
The Government chronically underfunds community social services, creating significant inequities between Government-employed social workers and their community counterparts. Social workers in the community and iwi sector earn an average of 34% less than those employed by the Government. NGO social workers are still waiting for the settlement of a pay equity claim.
We've heard that some NGO employers may replace social workers with other workers due to the cost of hiring registered social workers. “When I resign, I have been told that they will not fill my position with a social worker due to these fees”.
Social workers have worked hard during the COVID-19 pandemic. We need the Government to recognise our importance and take the pressure off these vital services through paying for the cost of registration.
We're advocating strongly for the social work profession and putting pressure on the Government to urgently address the disparities that exist. We want to see Fair Funding and Pay Equity for our sector this year.
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