Social work is a regulated profession in the UK. To practise as a social worker, you must be registered with the appropriate regulatory body. Each UK country maintains its own register. These are:
In Scotland: Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC)
In Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC)
In Wales: Social Care Wales
In England: Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
You should apply to the regulatory body in the country where you plan to work. If you plan to work in more than one country, you should contact us for advice by telephoning +44 (0)345 60 31 891 or email registration.
To practise as a social worker in Scotland, you must be registered with the SSSC. To register, one of the criteria you must meet is our qualification assessment criteria. You can apply to register with a non-UK qualification and we will assess it against our criteria. You must pay an application fee £80 and a non-UK qualification assessment fee of £320 plus possible additional costs and provide detailed information in English about your qualification as it was when you studied to enable us to assess it.
For more information, please see the full guidance document on non-UK social work qualifications.
For a list of international social work qualifications frequently asked questions click here.
Section 8 of the Professional Qualifications Act 2022 requires the SSSC to publish non UK social work qualifications that have been accepted for registration. These will be published here.