The Health and Personal Social Services (2001 Act) (Commencement No. 7) Order (Northern Ireland) 2005

Made: 26th April 2005

The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety[^f00001] in exercise of the powers conferred upon it by sections 57(3) and 61(2) of the Health and Personal Social Services Act (Northern Ireland) 2001[^f00002] and of all other powers enabling it in that behalf hereby makes the following Order:

Citation and interpretation

1

• (1) This Order may be cited as the Health and Personal Social Services (2001 Act) (Commencement No. 7) Order (Northern Ireland) 2005.

• (2) In this Order “the Act” means the Health and Personal Social Services Act (Northern Ireland) 2001.

Appointed Days

2

• (1) 26th April 2005 is the day appointed for the coming into operation of section 8(6)(b) of the Act for the purpose only of the exercise of the power to make regulations.

• (2) Subject to paragraph (3), 1st June 2005 is the day appointed for the coming into operation of section 8 of the Act (Registration – enforcement).

• (3) In relation to any person who –

• (a) before 1st June 2005 had applied for registration under section 4(1) of the Act;

• (b) has not been refused under section 5(1) but whose application had not yet been granted under that subsection;

the day appointed for the coming into operation of section 8 of the Act is 1st December 2005.

Signed

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety on 26th April 2005.

Paul Martin — Senior Officer of the — Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order brings into operation –

• on 26th April 2005, section 8(6)(b) of the Health and Personal Social Services Act (Northern Ireland) 2001 (“the 2001 Act”) for the purpose of making regulations which will prescribe the registers maintained under legislation in England, Wales and Scotland which correspond to the provisions of the 2001 Act under which the register is maintained by the Northern Ireland Social Care Council.

• on 1st June 2005, in so far as it is not already in operation, section 8 of the Act which: provides for the protection of the title “social worker” by the creation of an offence, punishable by a fine of up to level 5 on the standard scale, for a person who is not registered as a social worker to use that title or hold himself out as a registered social worker with an intention to deceive. An individual will not be guilty of an offence if they are registered with an equivalent regulatory body in another part of the UK; and enables the Department to make regulations to prohibit persons from working in certain categories of employment unless they are registered in an appropriate part of a relevant register.

The order also makes transitional provision in relation to those persons who have applied for registration before 1st June 2005 and have not been refused, but whose application has not yet been granted by the Northern Ireland Social Care Council.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: See S.I. 1999/283 (N.I. 1) Article 3(6)

[^f00002]: 2001 c. 3 (N.I.)