Health and Personal Social Services Act (Northern Ireland) 2001

Qualifications gained outside Northern Ireland

11.—(1) An applicant for registration as a social worker satisfies the requirements of this section if—

(a) being a national of any EEA State—

(i) he has professional qualifications, obtained in an EEA State other than the United Kingdom, which the Department has by order designated as having Community equivalence for the purposes of such registration; and

(ii) he satisfies any other requirements which the Council may by rules impose; or

(b) he has, elsewhere than in Northern Ireland, undergone training in relevant social work and either—

(i) that training is recognised by the Council as being to a standard sufficient for such registration; or

(ii) it is not so recognised, but the applicant has undergone in Northern Ireland or elsewhere such additional training as the Council may require.

(2) An order under subsection (1)(a) may provide that a professional qualification designated by the order is to be regarded as having Community equivalence for the purposes of registration as a social worker only if prescribed conditions required by a directive issued by the Council of the European Communities are fulfilled; and different conditions may be prescribed with respect to the same qualification for different circumstances.

(3) Any person who—

(a) is not a national of an EEA State; but

(b) is, by virtue of a right conferred by Article 11 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1612/68 (on freedom of movement for workers within the Community) or any other enforceable Community right, entitled to be treated, as regards the right to engage in relevant social work, no less favourably than a national of such a State,

shall be treated for the purposes of subsection (1)(a) as if he were such a national.

(4) In this section—

“EEA State” means a Contracting Party to the EEA Agreement;

“EEA Agreement” means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992 as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th March 1993;

“national”, in relation to an EEA State, means the same as it does for the purposes of the Community Treaties.