Few registered on time in N Ireland

Less than 14 per cent of the social care workers expected to
register with the Northern Ireland Social Care Council had their
applications processed by the 1 June deadline.

The council said this week it had registered 480 social workers
and care staff but had received 3,500 applications.

Residential child care workers and heads of residential care
homes and day centres, along with social workers, would have had to
register by 1 June in order to work legally.

A council spokesperson said those who had applied by the
deadline would receive a confirmation letter allowing them to
continue working and said most of those expected to register had
now sent in their forms.

She said the council had received 1,900 applications since the
start of May and did not expect to process them all until the
autumn.

The process was held up by a dispute with the Northern Ireland
Public Service Alliance union over the issue of protection against
complaints. The union advised its members not to register until the
matter was resolved in March.