Social worker registration fees in Scotland to rise by 50% over next 5 years despite opposition

Social worker registration fees are to rise from £80 to £120 per year in Scotland by 2029, the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) has decided.

Subject to Scottish Government approval, payments will rise by £8 per year from 2025-26 until the end of the decade, after the SSSC’s governing council decided to implement proposals put out for consultation last year.

The rise for social workers would be the first since 2017, when annual fees more than doubled, from £30 to £80, and would take annual charges for practitioners above those in Wales (£80) and significantly above those in Northern Ireland (£65).

The decision comes with Social Work England consulting on increasing the annual registration fee for practitioners from £90 to £120 this year, and then further raising it by increments until 2028-29, when it would reach £127.

Concessions on original proposals

The SSSC’s decision came despite widespread opposition to the proposed changes in its consultation, which garnered 3,178 responses, 92.4% of which were from registrants.

However, it did make concessions on proposed increases for other groups of registrants, including social work students, whose annual charges had been slated to rise by £2 a year. Instead, they will now remain at £15 a year.

Managers of care services and inspectors at the Care Inspectorate will also see their fees frozen, at £80 a year, after the SSSC dropped plans to increase them by £8 a year in a similar way to social workers.

The SSSC has also delayed, by one year, plans to raise registration fees for care service practitioners and supervisors by £4 a year, and increase those for support workers by £3 a year. These increases will now kick in from 2026-27, taking charges for practitioners and supervisors from £35 a year now to £51 in 2029-30, and those for support workers from £25 to £37.

No impact, currently, on local authority staff

As currently stands, the increases in fees will not affect staff working in local authorities for whom registration is required by law, including the majority of Scotland’s social workers.

This is because, under the 2022 local government pay agreement, the Scottish Government agreed to pay these fees, something it continues to do, via a grant to the SSSC that was worth £2.6m in 2023-24.

In a statement to Community Care, a Scottish Government spokesperson said that it “continues to meet the legacy obligations of the 2022 local government pay deal”.

As of January 2025, there were 10,896 social workers on the register, while, as of the end of 2023, Scottish councils employed 6,427 social workers, meaning most practitioners do not pay the fee.

Rationale for fee increase

The SSSC’s rationale for the fee increases was to shift the balance of funding for its regulatory functions from the Scottish Government to registrants themselves.

When the regulator was set up, in 2001, the intention was for registration fees to eventually cover the full costs of regulation, as is the case for health professional regulators, such as the Nursing & Midwifery Council.

Currently, fees cover about 60% of the SSSC’s regulatory costs, though this includes the Scottish Government’s grant to cover charges for local authority employees. Under the changes, this proportion is projected to rise to 78% by 2029-30, compared with 85% under the regulator’s original plans.

Widespread opposition from practitioners

In response to the consultation, 81.5% of respondents disagreed that the proposed fee increases were reasonable, with 67.9% disagreeing strongly. Among social workers, 85.7% disagreed, 70.5% doing so strongly.

Text responses from practitioners identified “a strong sentiment that they did not agree with the fee rise or in some cases paying a fee at all, particularly with local authority workers having their fees paid for them,” said the SSSC.

Respondents also cited recruitment challenges, the “financial strain on a low paid workforce who would struggle to pay”, in the context of cost of living issues, and the disproportionate effect of the changes on part-time workers.

Alternatives suggested included having the Scottish Government fund all fees or having a smaller increase, particularly for the lowest paid.

‘More work to do’ – the SSSC

The SSSC said having the Scottish Government or employers meet the costs of fees was beyond its control, but added that its concessions were in response to some of the concerns raised in the consultation, including about the impact on lower-paid registrants.

Respondents also called for more transparency about the role of the SSSC and the value it delivers.

Addressing registrants, it said: “From the consultation we know that we have more work to do to continue to improve understanding of our role and the benefits of being registered.

“We will better explain our role as a regulator which is to improve standards and protect the public, rather than the role of a membership body which some of you think we are, and we will do more to highlight the support we provide for developing your practice and careers in this sector.”

SASW ‘deeply concerned’ by fee rise

The Scottish Association of Social Work (SASW) said it was “deeply concerned” by the rise in social worker fees.

“This comes at a time when social workers are already facing unprecedented financial pressures due to the cost-of-living crisis and years of real-terms pay erosion,” said national director Alison Bavidge.

She said the association’s recent surveys had indicated that 67% of social workers were struggling financially, while 88% reported unmanageable workloads.

“Increasing the financial burden on practitioners risks further undermining morale and retention in a profession already under immense strain,” she warned.

Bavidge called for the Scottish Government to cover the fees of all registrants, not just those of local authority employees.

“Social workers provide essential services to Scotland’s most vulnerable citizens,” she added. “They deserve to be supported, not further burdened.”