-Automatic translation

The requirements for obtaining a specialist licence in social work are outlined in Article 6 of Regulation No. 1088/2012 concerning the education, rights, and obligations of social workers, and the criteria for granting licences and specialist licences. According to that provision, an applicant's specialist education must relate to the specific area of their specialist licence application. The applicant must have completed a master's or doctoral degree in social work within the relevant speciality or equivalent postgraduate studies from a recognised university.

According to the aforementioned regulation, the condition for granting a licence to practise as a social worker is that the applicant has completed an MA degree in social work at the University of Iceland. Before the regulation came into force, the conditions for a social worker's licence to practise were different; the requirement was either to have completed a degree in social work or a BA, along with a one-year professional rights programme at the University of Iceland. Social workers who completed the older programme for a licence to practise as a social worker, and who have supplemented their studies with the required credits to complete a master's degree in social work, have until now been considered to meet the conditions outlined in Article 6 of the regulation regarding education for the issuance of a specialist licence in social work.

Following a detailed review of the conditions for specialist licences, including in connection with the work on revising the aforementioned regulation, and in light of recent rulings by the Ministry of Health, the Directorate of Health has concluded that a master's degree in social work, which is now the programme granting the right to a licence to practise as a social worker, cannot be considered to meet the requirement of the first paragraph of Article 6 of the regulation of being defined as a specialist education within a social work specialism, even if a social worker has supplemented their previous studies with the necessary credits to complete the master's degree.

With reference to the above, the Directorate of Health announces that henceforth, the requirement will be that an applicant has completed a full master's or doctoral degree, or a comparable programme, in a specialism of social work, and that the studies on which the applicant bases their application for a specialist licence commenced after the completion of the programme that granted the individual the right to a licence to practise. As before, the other conditions of Article 6 for the granting of a specialist licence must also be met.

According to the aforementioned regulation, a social worker must have worked in the specialism relevant to their specialist licence application for two full-time years after completing their specialist education. To give those social workers who have already started a master's degree in social work, as a supplement to their previous studies, a fair chance and the opportunity to be granted a specialist licence based on their studies, their applications for a specialist licence will be processed according to the previous practice until 31 December 2029.

Operating Licence Team