The Social Workers Registration Board is delighted to welcome new Board member Lois Hutchinson. Lois has over 30 years’ senior management experience in the public sector working in health, censorship and transport, including work as: Working in these sectors, Lois developed particular expertise in the delivery of mandated services, both domestic and international, that operate… Read more »

The report on this work has now been published. Please see Addressing public safety for social worker-like kaimahi Background to work undertaken from 2023-2024 We are working to better understand kaimahi/workers who are doing mahi that is the “same or substantially similar” to the mahi of registered social workers. The opportunity to undertake this work… Read more »

It is important for our regulatory work to understand and be informed by social work skills and knowledge. We are looking for experienced and versatile social workers who can provide us with social work advice on our regulatory work, like the registration of social workers and complaints and notifications. Now that social work is one… Read more »

The SWRB welcomes the introduction of the Social Worker Registration Legislation Amendment Bill to extend the experience pathway for social worker registration, announced by Hon Carmel Sepuloni, Minister of Social Development and Employment yesterday. The experience pathway is a registration pathway for people who have been working as a social worker for several years, but who… Read more »

The SWRB is delighted to announce that the Board has appointed a new Registrar: Hamish McDouall. He joins the SWRB on 1 May. Hamish brings with him a wealth of experience from his distinguished and varied career, which includes serving as Mayor of Whanganui from 2016-2022. He studied law and arts at the University of… Read more »

Today we join others in celebrating World Social Work Day. It provides an opportunity to reflect on the vital role social workers play across the motu and around the globe. Aotearoa has seen even more challenges arise over the past year, which reinforces the ongoing need for passionate social workers to help guide our whānau… Read more »

He ara pūkenga, he ara tauwhiro, hei whakamana mātā waka  The many pathways to knowledge, the many pathways of social work, upholding the dignity of all Are you looking for an opportunity to use your skills on an inspirational project that will leave a lasting impact on the social work landscape? We have a number of vacancies across two projects: Building Social Worker Capability… Read more »

The SWRB welcomes recent announcements that the Government is taking action to address the long-standing pay gap for community-based social workers. Today, Ministers announced their decision to extend pay equity to social workers of other iwi and community-based social service providers. This follows on from agreement in October to settle the pay equity claim for… Read more »

The role and influence of social media and the way people and organisations interact with it continues to evolve and raise questions and challenges. We take this opportunity to remind social workers about the values and ethics underpinning the social work profession – put simply, to do no harm and to behave in a way… Read more »

Message from the Board Chair When I reflect on the past two years, I think of the significant contribution that social workers have made in communities, to different groups, supporting whānau and vulnerable members of our society. The collective effort of social workers made a positive difference to the day to day lives of whānau.  From… Read more »