Social Workers Registration Act 2003

Register and Registrar - Register of Social Workers

129: Revision of Register

You could also call this:

"Checking and updating the social worker register"

Illustration for Social Workers Registration Act 2003

The Registrar can check if you are still working as a social worker. They might ask you if you have stopped working as a social worker, or if you are living overseas. You can also ask to have your name removed from the Register for any reason. The Registrar will ask you by letter or by sending a message to your email address. If you tell the Registrar in writing that you want to cancel your registration, the Board will cancel it, but they must follow the rules in section 127(2). If you do not reply to the letter, or if it is returned to the Registrar, the Board might cancel your registration. The Registrar must try to give you a copy of any decision they make about your registration. You can stay on the Register even if you are not working as a social worker, if that is what you want.

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This page was last updated on 7 August 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM190627.

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128: Entry to be cancelled on death of social worker, or

"What happens to a social worker's registration when they die"

130: Restoration of entries, or

"Getting your social worker registration back after it's been cancelled"

Part 7Register and Registrar
Register of Social Workers

129Revision of Register

The Registrar may at any time, and must if the Board directs, ask whether a social worker—
has stopped practising as a social worker; or
is living, or intends to continue to live, overseas; or
for any reason wishes to have the entry in the Register relating to the social worker cancelled.

The Registrar must ask—
by letter addressed to the social worker at their last known address and sent by any form of prepaid delivery service that requires an acknowledgement of receipt of delivery from the person to whom it is addressed; or
by message sent to an electronic address supplied to the Registrar by the social worker.

If the social worker tells the Registrar in writing that they wish to have their registration cancelled, the Board must (subject to section 127(2)) cancel the social worker’s registration.
Nothing in this section prevents a social worker who is no longer practising as a social worker from remaining on the Register if they wish to do so.
If the Registrar does not receive a reply to the letter within 6 months after it was posted, or if the letter is returned to the Registrar undelivered, the Board may cancel the social worker's registration.
The Registrar must make reasonable efforts to give a copy of a direction under subsection (3) or subsection (4) to the social worker concerned.

Notes

Section 129(1): amended, on 28 February 2019, by section 144(1) of the Social Workers Registration Legislation Act 2019 (2019 No 3).
Section 129(1)(a): amended, on 27 February 2021, by section 144(2) of the Social Workers Registration Legislation Act 2019 (2019 No 3).
Section 129(1)(c): amended, on 30 March 2025, by section 23 of the Social Workers Registration Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 17).
Section 129(1)(c): amended, on 28 February 2019, by section 128(1) of the Social Workers Registration Legislation Act 2019 (2019 No 3).
Section 129(2): replaced, on 28 February 2019, by section 128(2) of the Social Workers Registration Legislation Act 2019 (2019 No 3).
Section 129(3): replaced, on 28 February 2019, by section 128(3) of the Social Workers Registration Legislation Act 2019 (2019 No 3).
Section 129(3A): inserted, on 28 February 2019, by section 128(3) of the Social Workers Registration Legislation Act 2019 (2019 No 3).