Our team of over 60 people consists of social workers, FTP and Committee officers, data and IT specialists, registration advisors, marketing communication experts, business support officers, workforce development advisors and learning and development specialists. Our values underpin our culture and set a foundation for how we work together both inside and outside the organisation. We are driven by our purpose and making a positive difference in everything we do.
Our Senior Leadership Team
Declan McAllister took up post as Interim Chief Executive in October 2024. Declan is supported by Marian O’Rourke, Director of Regulation and Standards.
As Interim Chief Executive he is committed to the mission, vision and values of the Social Care Council and a dedication to support, protect, and empower both the public and the social work and social care practitioners alike. He has the responsibility to uphold high standards or practice and provide guidance crucial not only to the public’s trust but for social workers and social care workers.
As a Collective Leadership disciple, he is constantly working to support colleagues and promote the organisations values in everything that he does.
A Psychology graduate from Queen’s University Belfast, he spent his early career developing his people skills in advertising and marketing before returning to Queens to complete a Master’s Degree in Information Management. He cut his teeth in the private care sector up to 1996 before taking up the position of Corporate Services Manager with the Northern Ireland Guardian ad Litem Agency (NIGALA) where he spent 21 years helping shape the statutory service for the representation of children and young people in family law and adoption proceedings.
Having joined the organisation in July 2017 Declan works collaboratively with all staff and stakeholders to continue to strengthen the levels of public confidence in the social work and social care professions.
As Director of Regulation and Standards, Marian is responsible for leading the Social Care Council’s work in setting standards of conduct and practice for the social work and social care workforces and standards for social work education and training at both qualifying and post qualifying levels, as well as supporting the research agenda for social work and social care.
Marian’s directorate includes workforce development which supports registrants to meet their standards and maintain their registration through on-going learning and development. The directorate is responsible for Professional in Practice, the CPD framework for social workers in Northern Ireland, the Social Work Leadership Framework, and the Care in Practice Framework to support social care practitioners.. The directorate also includes the Council’s Fitness to Practise process for investigating social workers’ and social care workers’ fitness to practise when concerns have been raised, alongside the wider social work and social care research and evidence agenda to explore gaps in evidence and support the identification of strategic research and evidence priorities.
Marian qualified as a Social Worker in 1984. Her early career was in the justice sector where she worked as a Probation Officer. For the past 20 years she has worked in social work education and training and workforce regulation. Marian has undertaken a range of leadership roles and development opportunities associated with both her practice background, her role in regulation and at a broader strategic level across the public sector.