Registration and regulation of probation officers – the Northern Ireland experience

The Northern Ireland Social Care Council, as the social work regulator and the Probation Board for Northern Ireland outline how probation officers, as qualified social workers, have been regulated from the outset of regulation for social work across the UK in 2001. The regulatory landscape in which probation operates in NI provides the backdrop for exploration of the impact of regulation for probation professional identity, practice and strategic influence. The value of working to professional standards that carry regulatory authority in making decisions about fitness to practise from a risk perspective requires focus but is not the full story. The added value of regulation in supporting professional standards of conduct and practice is critical to the registration debate. We will tell the story of probation officers who have used the Professional in Practice Framework for Social Work in NI as a quality and governance benchmark to demonstrate and provide assurance of safe, effective and high-quality practice. Workforce regulation provides opportunity to address the challenges of risk and protection from a wider perspective of ensuring that people with the right knowledge, skills and values are supported to work in partnership across the justice and related systems in making communities safer.