Social Work Licensure in Illinois: LCSW Requirements, Hours and Exams

Illinois issues two social work licenses under the Clinical Social Work and Social Work Practice Act: the Licensed Social Worker and the Licensed Clinical Social Worker.

The LCSW is the license authorizing the independent practice of clinical social work, whether in private practice, under the auspices of an employer, or under public and private nonprofit agencies providing publicly sponsored human services.

The LSW is the entry license, and the statute is explicit that it is not independent: an LSW may not engage in the independent practice of clinical social work, and inside an independent practice works under the order, control and full professional responsibility of a named list of licensees, from an LCSW to a psychiatrist.

Rule 1470.97(c) adds the employment consequence: the LSW operates as an employee of that independent practice, never as an independent contractor.

Read job ads accordingly: only the LCSW runs an Illinois independent practice.

For the LCSW, the degree is a master's or a doctorate in social work from an approved program; the supervised hours attach to the degree rather than to a course list.

For the LSW, the current text offers two routes: a degree from a graduate program of social work approved by the Department, or a degree in social work from an approved undergraduate program plus supervised professional experience, which the Department sets by rule.

The accreditation rule states what the Division has determined to be approved: baccalaureate and master's programs accredited by the Council on Social Work Education, by the Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work, or by the Council on Social Work Education through its Foreign Equivalency Determination Service, while doctoral degrees must carry accreditation from an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

So the rule text itself names how Canadian and foreign-evaluated degrees fit, not only U.S. programs.

The LCSW experience requirement is stated two ways: at least 3,000 hours of satisfactory, supervised clinical professional experience subsequent to securing an approved master's degree in social work, or at least 2,000 subsequent to an approved doctorate in social work.

The rule sets the pace: full-time experience means at least 30 hours per week but not more than 40, and part-time means not more than 29.

Supervision must average at least 4 hours each month to discuss client cases and treatment procedures.

The rule states no separate direct-client-hour minimum and no minimum number of months.

From January 1, 2027 (P.A.

104-702), the hours must be earned after the master's degree and after obtaining a social worker license under Section 9A — or while temporarily practicing under Section 9B, counting only if the license was ultimately issued — and hours completed before that date still count if they would have qualified under the law in effect when earned.

Plan around that sequencing if you are starting hours now.

The LSW's exam slot in the statute reads blank, and the rule explains why: beginning January 1, 2022, an applicant for licensure as a licensed social worker is not required to take an examination; until then the Masters ASWB examination applied.

The LCSW keeps the ASWB Clinical examination as the default route.

Illinois also runs a statutory examination alternative: an applicant who, on or after January 1, 2019, has taken but not successfully completed the examination may substitute at least 3,000 hours of supervised professional experience obtained after the degree, within a window starting 10 years before the application date and ending 3 years after it.

Those alternative hours are in addition to the hours required for licensure, and beginning January 1, 2026 the applicant must hold a licensed social worker license or a license for the practice of school social work before acquiring them.

The Clinical exam remains the default; the alternative belongs only to someone who has taken and failed it.

After January 1, 1995, only experience supervised by a licensed clinical social worker is acceptable for the clinical hours; where supervision occurred in another jurisdiction that does not license clinical social workers, the supervisor must have been engaged in clinical social work and credentialed at the highest level that jurisdiction requires.

Supervision may be paid or unpaid, inside or outside the employing agency, individual or in a group of no more than five supervisees, and an applicant may contract directly with a licensed clinical social worker to provide it.

Two lines sit side by side in the rule: the after-1995 subsection requires LCSW supervision, and another line says professional clinical experience obtained while the applicant is located in Illinois must be supervised by an Illinois licensed social worker — read them together and confirm with the Department before any hours start.

Telesupervision is not addressed in the rule text read, so get the Department's position before relying on video sessions.

The LSW's practice may include clinical social work, as long as it is not conducted in independent practice.

But rule 1470.97(b) conditions all of that clinical work, agency employment included: an LSW may provide clinical social work services only under the order, control and full professional responsibility of a licensed clinical social worker, a licensed clinical psychologist, or a psychiatrist, and may not regulate or be responsible for their own practice or treatment procedures.

The rule's supervisor list also predates the statute's: the rule text was last amended June 4, 2024, while the statute's broader Section 10(c) list — which adds the licensed clinical professional counselor and the licensed marriage and family therapist — took effect January 1, 2025 (P.A.

103-1048), and where the two differ the statute controls, so confirm with IDFPR.

Inside an independent practice, the LSW shall always operate and represent themself as an employee of that practice and may not work as an independent contractor (1470.97(c)).

When a practice offers you a 1099 arrangement for clinical LSW work, that rule is why to ask questions.

Endorsement covers both licenses: the Department may issue an LCSW or LSW license without the required examination to an applicant licensed in another jurisdiction whose licensure requirements were substantially equivalent on the date of licensure, or to any person whose individual qualifications were substantially equivalent to those then in force in Illinois.

The section also carries a five-year route: an LCSW applicant licensed at the independent level in another United States jurisdiction for 5 consecutive years without discipline need not submit proof of the education and supervised clinical professional experience required by Section 9, only certified verification of licensure and compliance with the other requirements.

From January 1, 2027, P.A.

104-702 carves one item out of the substantial-equivalence test — the requirement to be licensed while obtaining the supervised experience under Section 9 — matching the new hours-after-license rule.

An applicant then has 3 years to complete the application before it is denied and the fee forfeited.

As of September 2026, Illinois is not on the Social Work Licensure Compact commission's list of enacting jurisdictions, and the Act text read contains no compact article: the compact has not been enacted here.

There is no multistate-license route into or out of Illinois, so practicing in the state takes an Illinois license, by the standard route or by endorsement.

Nationally, the compact has reached activation status, but the commission says multistate licenses are not yet being issued anywhere, and it estimates its data system will be complete in spring 2027 rather than giving a launch date.

Check the commission's jurisdiction list and the Department before relying on either status.

Every license issued under the Act expires on November 30 of each odd-numbered year, and a prerenewal period is the 24 months preceding that date.

Each renewal requires 30 hours of continuing education relevant to the practice of social work or clinical social work, with at least 3 hours on the ethical practice of social work and at least 3 on cultural competence.

The requirements are the same for LSWs and LCSWs, and the first renewal of an Illinois license is exempt from CE.

Beginning with the renewal period ending November 30, 2027 — and, for new licensees, the second renewal after initial licensure — clinical social workers add a one-time, lifetime requirement: 6 of the 30 hours in clinical supervision training.

The rule also points to continuing education under 68 Ill.

Adm.

Code 1130 Subpart E, whose text was not part of the sources read, so read it before planning your CE hours.

The saved statute text carries the amendment trail.

Public Act 103-433, effective January 1, 2024, created the examination alternative in Section 8.2.

Rules 1470.20, 1470.70, 1470.95 and 1470.97 were amended effective June 4, 2024 (48 Ill.

Reg.

8825).

Public Act 103-1048, effective January 1, 2025, touched the definitions, the order-and-control language for LSWs in independent practice, and the examination alternative.

Public Act 104-178, effective January 1, 2026, rewrote the LSW qualifications in Section 9A, added the Section 9B authorization to practice pending licensure, and made licensure a precondition for examination-alternative hours.

Public Act 104-702 takes effect January 1, 2027: the undergraduate route to the LSW becomes at least 3,000 hours of supervised professional experience within no more than 4 years, LCSW hours must follow the social worker license, and endorsement gains the matching carve-out.

None of this touched the compact: Illinois had not enacted it as of September 2026.

Since January 1, 2026, an applicant for either license has been authorized to temporarily practice under supervision while the application is pending, once two conditions are met: the applicant authorizes the Department to release information about the application's status, and the Department acknowledges receipt of the application — which an employer can accept as a copy of the Department's license application screen showing the application is pending.

The authorization terminates immediately if the Department finds the applicant does not meet the requirements or has engaged in conduct that would constitute grounds for discipline, or when the permanent license issues.

It is an authorization to practice under supervision, not a license and not a title.

Separately, sections of the Act are scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2028; the research records that as a sunset date that is routinely extended, but it is a date to watch.