Perceptions of professionalisation and the future of social care workers in Ireland

In spite of the inclusion of social care worker in the Health and Social Care Professionals Act (2005) almost twenty years ago and the impending opening of a register for social care workers in November 2023, social care work and workers have remained largely conspicuous by their absence. This is perhaps all the more surprising given that social care workers are likely to be the largest single profession to be regulated by CORU (The Health and Social Care Professionals Council). However, as the findings of this study (survey n=350 interviews n=12) with social care workers indicates, social care work is a divided profession, which is perceived to be poorly understood by other health and social care professionals, and which felt to be almost entirely absent from public awareness. In large part, such perceptions can be explained by state rather than profession led moves to regulation, the continued dominance of employers in areas such as job title, roles and responsibilities, and progression and career pathways, and, shaped by such drivers the internalisation by social care workers of perceptions of social care work as a lesser profession. Social care workers are enthusiastically optimistic that the opening of a register and thus, the establishment of regulation of the social care profession by CORU will address many of these issues. However, registration and regulation may be something of a double-edged sword and this presentation draws upon the survey and interview findings to explore what registration and regulation may mean for social care workers and social care work.