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Author ORCID Identifier

0000-0002-7604-1330

Abstract

The inclusion of the title social care worker in the Health and Social Care Professionals Act (2005) was a crucial development in the journey toward the professionalisation of social care work. With the two year grand-parenting window for entry to the register closed at the end of November 2025, the regulation of social care work has now begun. While this will mean that a definitive number rather than estimates of the number of social care workers in Ireland will be available, ambiguities remain. For example, in spite of the passing of two decades since the inclusion of social care worker in the Health and Social Care Professionals Act, there has not been overly wide adoption of the title. Moreover, though the Standards of Proficiency outline the competencies new graduates should have, the diversity of social care work can make defining what social care workers do difficult. Drawing upon data collected as part of Statutory Registration Awareness among Social Care Workers survey, this study examines the responses of frontline social care staff (n=611) to investigate the extent of the use of the title, differences between sectors in their use of the title, and the extent to which there were similarities and differences in the main duties carried out by those with and without the title. This study found that the use of the title has not become embedded, with less than half of respondents holding the title and significant variations between sectors. However, in contrast, few differences were found around main duties carried out by those with the title and those without the title. In light of these findings, this paper explores some of the potential opportunities and challenges that the opening of a register may present to stakeholders and examines the manner in which regulation may shape or constrain the emerging of a title and profession.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

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