The Irish Daily Mail – 16 March 2011

“NEW QUANGO CHARGES SOCIAL WORKERS €350 TO REGISTER”

By Ian Carey 

A government quango set up to regulate health care professionals is planning to charge social workers €350 per year to register. The charge will apply to all social workers whether they are working or not. Students qualifying in the next two years have been told they will be charged €175 to register by CORU, but they organisation said last night the fees have not been finalised. 

Declan Carey a fourth-year social work student in Trinity College yesterday expressed his anger at the new registration fee. ‘We just all feel so angry that they are bringing this in. Especially in the recession as well.’ He told listens to RTE’s LiveLine programme. ‘We just feel it is unjust and unfair. In the UK it is only €50 to register as a social worker and in Ireland nurses only have to pay €88 a year,’ he added. ‘I don’t know how they dreamed up this figure of €350, but this board was set up in March 2007 and we feel they are just out of touch during this economic crisis. ‘Social workers work with the most marginalised in society. We are working for social justice but yet there is no justice for us.’ 

Last night the Irish Association of Social Workers president Ineke Durville said: ‘We have had some feedback, particularly from students, concerned at the registration fees proposed by CORU. In general, the association is happy with the idea of registration, but there is a concern about the fact that other professions seem to be a lot cheaper. We only hard of the cost last Friday… and some people are very annoyed.’ 

The move will affect all 2,700 social workers in Ireland, many of whom work for the HSE and health related bodies. Social workers are employed in a variety of areas such as adoption, child and family services, counselling, child protection and probation services. 

‘Generally social workers are in the public sector, so we have been hit with wage cuts and the pension levy. It is not a profession you get into to make money,’ Miss Durville said.  The charge will disproportionally affect those at the low end of the pay scale and students trying to get jobs. The starting salary for newly qualified social workers, according to the HSE 2010 pay scale, is €36,000, while the upper salary limit for senior social workers is €62,300. 

A spokesman for CORU said the organisation aims to be self-funding, and the fee has yet to be finalised.