All social care professionals to obtain a licence to practise the profession as per DCD

All social care providers are required to get a licencing in order to conduct their profession, according to the Department of Community Development (DCD). This is a component of DCD's responsibility to manage Abu Dhabi's social sector in compliance with local regulations.

The department is attempting to control the social care industry using this. Based on the Administrative Violations and Fines Schedule for Social Care Professionals in Abu Dhabi, the department seeks to impose penalties against licence law offenders.

"Since adopting licencing standards and initiating the licencing of social care professionals, the department has organised several awareness workshops for social care service providers to highlight the role played by the department in regulating and licencing workers in the social care field," said Saeed Mubarak bin Amro, Manager of Social Control Division at DCD.

In order to certify and improve the effectiveness of professionals in the social sector as part of the support strategy, it has also established professional degrees in collaboration with the UAE University. Additionally, the department has set up competency exams that are accessible at numerous testing facilities both locally and globally. Additionally, it automates the licencing processes that must be submitted via the "Tamm" platform, the official electronic service delivery system for the Abu Dhabi government.

The department's eagerness to enact administrative fines, he continued, would aid in organising the delivery of social care services, ensuring that they are of the best calibre and delivered by experts who have been licenced in line with the established criteria, and helping to ensure that they are organised. Additionally, it will guarantee that the social care industry develops in accordance with best practises, high standards of professionalism, and professional ethics.

The department licences individuals in the following five core social care professions: social worker, psychotherapist, applied behaviour analyst, psychologist, and counsellor. Each of these professions has a variety of specialisations that are defined in accordance with the authorised criteria.

To ensure proper coordination of those in social care professions and to monitor their commitment to providing the highest quality services, in accordance with laws and in collaboration with the relevant authorities, the DCD started working on the project to licence social care professionals at the end of 2020.