28 May 2026
Kieran O’Donoghue
By email: [FYI request #34598 email]
Tēnā koe Professor O’Donoghue
Information request – KO260504
Thank you for your email dated 4 May 2026. In your email, you referred to the Tertiary
Education Commission (TEC)’s “Plan Guidance for providers submitting Investment Plans for
funding from 1 January 2027”, which at Page 70 (Appendix B) says:
For social work going forward, we will prioritise funding for delivery of the
three-year Bachelor of Social Work recently accredited by the Social Worker
Registration Board (SWRB) over the four-year programme, consistent with
our wider priorities for health provision.
You asked us “What advice (formal or informal, including verbal advice conveyed in meetings
or briefings) was given from SWRB (secretariat and Board) to TEC to inform or approve the
statement in Appendix B, as noted above?”
Please find
attached a PDF (12 pages) containing two email chains between the TEC and the
SWRB. In these emails, the SWRB and the TEC discuss the SWRB’s decision in 2025 (effective 1
January 2026) to remove the requirement that prescribed social work qualifications be at least
four years’ long (full time) if they are an undergraduate bachelor’s degree, or at least two
years’ long (full time) if they are a postgraduate master’s level degree. I note that at Page 6 of
the PDF, some information has been redacted to protect the confidentiality of advice by
officials to Ministers (Official Information Act 1982, Section 9(2)(f)(iv)).
The SWRB did not advise or encourage the TEC to prioritise funding for the delivery of three-
year Bachelor of Social Work degrees. The emails attached to this response show the nature of
the engagement between the two agencies: the SWRB provided factual information about its
prescription decisions, and the TEC sought confirmation of the status of particular
qualifications. Neither of those things constitutes advice about how TEC should allocate
funding.
The SWRB’s role in relation to social work qualifications can be divided into three facets:
1. The SWRB sets Education Standards (Social Workers Registration Act 2003, Section
99(1)(i)).
2. The SWRB prescribes social work qualifications (Section 5B).
3. The SWRB registers applicants who have a completed a prescribed social work
qualification and meet the other mandatory criteria for registration (Section 6).
The SWRB and TEC maintain an ongoing working relationship, as would be expected between
agencies with shared interests in the supply and quality of social work education. The SWRB is
designated by Cabinet as the lead agency for social work workforce planning, and TEC is the
principal funder of tertiary education providers delivering social work programmes. In that
context, it is appropriate and normal for the two agencies to share information, check factual
accuracy, and flag relevant developments. When TEC sought SWRB's confirmation of the status
of the Bethlehem Tertiary Institute qualification, SWRB provided factual information about its
prescription decision - as it would for any provider. That exchange did not constitute advice to
TEC about how it should prioritise funding, and TEC's funding decisions remain TEC's alone to
make.
When the SWRB is considering whether to prescribe a given social work qualification, it must
evaluate whether the qualification and the Tertiary Education Organisation (TEO) offering it
comply with the SWRB Education Standards. The SWRB’s prior Education Standards (the
“Programme Recognition Standards – June 2021”) excluded any undergraduate qualifications
that were shorter than four years’ long (full time) and any postgraduate qualifications that
were shorter than two years’ long (full time). This meant that the SWRB would not and could
not prescribe shorter qualifications. However, the SWRB’s introduction of the current
Education Standards removed this exclusion. This means that the SWRB now can prescribe
shorter qualifications, if they comply with the Education Standards.
In December 2025, the SWRB received a request for details about how it had made this
decision. The SWRB responded in January 2026, and its response was published on the public
“FYI” website:
https://fyi.org.nz/request/33133-revised-social-work-education-standards-
2026-qualification-length-and-programme-design#incoming-137694. This matter was also
discussed in the article you coauthored in January 2026 (“Social work education under
pressure: Access, workforce sustainability and the limits of acceleration”).
The SWRB’s role and the TEC’s role in relation to social work qualifications are fundamental y
different. The SWRB sets the standards that social work qualifications should meet, prescribes
those qualifications that meet those standards, and registers applicants who have completed
those prescribed qualifications. The SWRB does not promote some prescribed qualifications
over others, nor does it encourage or advise the TEC to fund particular qualifications. It does
liaise with the TEC and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority in a general sense to promote
the smooth delivery of social work education in New Zealand.
Further information
We are happy to discuss any aspect of this response further if that would be helpful. Please
contact the SWRB by email
at [Social Workers Registration Board request email], or by post at Social Workers Registration
Board, PO Box 3452, Wellington 6140 (attention Legal Team). You have the right to seek a
review of our response by the Ombudsman. Information about the Ombudsman can be found
at
https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz. Ngā mihi nui
Lucas Davies
Legal Services Manager
Social Workers Registration Board
