Licensure and Certification Requirements
States set the licensure requirements for social work occupations. Requirements vary depending on the level of licensure applicants seek. Typically these requirements include having a bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree in social work, meeting certain age requirements, abiding by a code of ethics and passing an examination administered by the Association of Social Work Boards or the state.
Examination Requirements: Most states require candidates to pass a licensure exam that corresponds to their level of education and practice as part of the social worker licensure process. Bachelor’s, master’s, advanced generalist and clinical examinations are administered by the Association of Social Work Boards. According to an association survey, 76% of social workers believe that examination is crucial to maintaining high professional standards.
Some states have established alternative pathways to licensure that do not include examinations, including California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Texas and Utah. Several states, including Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Texas and Utah, have also created provisional or temporary licenses for social workers who have not completed the examination requirement or have not yet received a passing score.
Licensure Portability: To facilitate, access to services that social workers provide, at least 22 states have enacted legislation to participate in the Social Work Compact. Applicants are licensed in their home state and then may apply for a multi-state license through the compact . Licensees must abide by the laws, regulations and rules of the state in which a client is located. Only a licensee’s home state may take adverse action against a license, but other states may take adverse action against the privilege to practice within their state borders. Development of the Social Work Licensure Compact started in April 2021 and has not issued licenses thus far, so information on workforce or access outcomes are not yet available.
Scope of Practice
States may define social work professional scope of practice in statute or delegate this authority to departments of health or licensure boards, which then establish these requirements in administrative code. In most states, clinical social workers may practice independently. Baccalaureate and master’s level social workers work in a variety of settings and roles. In some settings, they may be required to practice under the supervision of a LCSW. Not all states set supervised hour requirements for baccalaureate or master’s practice, but most states include a certain length of supervised training for LCSWs.
States set the supervision requirements for the clinical training hours graduates must complete to achieve licensure. For LCSW, this may come in the form of hours (typically ranging from 1,500 in Florida to 4,000 in Arkansas, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Oklahoma), months (such as Indiana and Mississippi) or years (such as South Dakota, the Northern Mariana Islands or the U.S. Virgin Islands).
* Note, Indiana, South Dakota, Mississippi, Northern Mariana Islands and U.S. Virgin Islands define requirements as “two years” or “24 months.”
Several states have recently amended supervision requirements for various social work occupations. Delaware removed supervision responsibilities from the scope of practice for a master’s social worker in 2024 and prohibits a master’s-level licensee from providing supervision to a licensed clinical social work license applicant. Iowa removed a requirement that supervised clinical experience must be completed in-person as of 2024 and allows for live or recorded observation of client interaction. According to the Association of Social Work Boards, most states now permit some supervision hours to take place remotely.