In November 2019 Social Work Scotland adopted new Articles of Association. These revised the Association’s membership categories, locating all current and future members into either:
- Executive Member – restricted to individuals who are qualified and registered social workers, employed in a social work management role, by an organisation that is subject to statutory duties to deliver social work services.
- Ordinary Member – restricted to individuals who hold a social work qualification or adjacent professional qualification.
- Associate Member – restricted to individuals who are, or have been, employed by an organisation involved in the delivery, improvement, scrutiny or regulation of social work services.
- Corporate Members – restricted to organisations involved in: (i) the delivery, improvement, scrutiny or regulation of social work services; (ii) the education, training and/or support of social workers; (iii) developing or delivering services to social workers and/or social work providers.
From December 2019 all new applications for membership have been processed within the new membership categories. Since April 2020 all existing members (i.e. those who first joined before December 2019) have been contacted with information about how their membership is changing. In some cases, this involves a change in the annual membership fee, applied from the date your membership renews.
Some existing members will also now find themselves eligible for other categories, should they wish access to additional benefits. For example, the new ‘Ordinary Member’ category is more accessible than the former ‘Full Member’ category, opening up this option to some of our Associate Members.
Our work to transition all individual members into the new structure will continue over the next few months. Our focus will then turn to Corporate Memberships, with a series of changes to be introduced in 2021.
