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

The Board issues three social work licenses, and each rule is written as a license to hold oneself out under a title: licensed social worker, licensed clinical social worker, licensed bachelor social worker.

The LSW is the master's-level license, and it is the license an LCSW applicant must already hold — the LCSW conditions include that the applicant "Is licensed under the act as a social worker."

The LSW's own rule lists general requirements, a degree and the examination, with no supervised-experience condition.

A provisional-license provision once sat at § 47.12b; the current text is [Reserved], so nothing in the sources read issues one.

For a job search, the practical cut is between the LSW, whose license runs to the licensed-social-worker title, and the LCSW, the title the rules gate behind the 3,000 supervised hours and the clinical exam.

The LCSW requires a master's degree in social work or social welfare, or a doctoral degree in social work, from a school accredited by the Council on Social Work Education, and a graduate of a foreign school must submit a CSWE foreign-credential evaluation.

The LSW's degree clause is worded differently: a master's in social work or social welfare from a school which was an accredited school on the date the degree was awarded, or a doctoral degree in social work.

"Accredited school" is a defined term whose defining section was not among the sources read — and the LSW rule does name CSWE for its foreign-credential route, which requires an evaluation performed by CSWE assessing the foreign credentials as equivalent.

It also adds a candidacy route: graduates of master's programs in candidacy for accreditation at graduation may apply once the program obtains accreditation.

The LBSW requires a bachelor's degree from a CSWE-accredited program of social work or social welfare.

Before counting hours, check your degree against the CSWE line in the LCSW rule.

The LCSW applicant must have completed at least 3,000 hours of supervised clinical experience meeting the subsection (b) criteria after completion of the master's degree; the stated alternative is an Academy of Certified Social Workers certificate issued by NASW prior to January 1, 2001.

At least half the experience must consist of providing services in one or more of six named areas: assessment, psychotherapy, other psychosocial-therapeutic interventions, consultation, family therapy and group therapy.

Hours count only if the supervised work activity took place in a single setting, either at least 30 hours per week but no more than 50 during at least a 3-month period, or at least 15 hours per week for at least 6 months.

A supervisee must also disclose their status as a supervisee to each patient and obtain written permission to discuss the patient's case with the supervisor.

The pacing rules bound the clock from both ends, and they are the part a new graduate should plan around first.

The examination rule names the ASWB level for each license: original licensure as a licensed social worker requires the Association of Social Work Boards' master's level examination; the licensed bachelor social worker, the bachelor's level examination; and the licensed clinical social worker, the clinical level examination.

The applicant applies to the testing organization for admission, pays the required fee at its direction, and is responsible for directing examination results to the Board; the passing grade is determined by the Board.

The section's current wording was amended effective August 29, 2020 — the same date the LBSW license rule was adopted — so the three-tier mapping is recent text rather than a holdover.

For an LSW heading for the LCSW, the clinical exam is a condition of the LCSW application on top of the master's exam already passed.

The supervisor, or a delegate, must meet the supervisee for at least 2 hours per 40 hours of supervised clinical experience, at least 1 of the 2 individually and in person.

Both minimums are written in person, and no telesupervision allowance appears in the rule text as posted (Code current through 56 Pa.B.

4026, July 4, 2026) — an associate planning remote supervision should confirm the Board's position before counting hours.

A supervisor may supervise no more than 6 supervisees, with a written undue-hardship exception.

At least half the required hours must be supervised by a supervisor meeting § 47.1a(1) and (3) — (1) is the rule's LCSW criterion, a clinical social worker license with 5 years within the last 10, and (3) is an expired provision, written to run only until January 1, 2006.

The balance may come from a § 47.1a(2) supervisor, a licensed related-field master's or doctoral holder with 5 years in the last 10.

Supervisor standards bar relatives, dual relationships and treating the supervisee, and require session notes plus written evaluations discussed at least quarterly.

Endorsement exists only for the clinical license: the rule is written for licensure by endorsement without examination as a licensed clinical social worker.

The applicant must satisfy the general requirements, hold a CSWE-accredited master's or doctoral degree, and have passed a clinical social work examination acceptable to the Board — it accepts grades from another jurisdiction where the exam was similar and the grade at least equal to Pennsylvania's passing grade.

The applicant must also hold a clinical social work license in good standing, with a letter from that state's licensing authority certifying licensure and reporting any disciplinary history.

The load-bearing clause for movers is the hours one: your 3,000 hours are measured against the requirements of the state where you are currently licensed, not against Pennsylvania's own supervision rule.

The rules also reference an application for licensure by reciprocity (§ 47.14), whose text was not among the sources read.

As of September 2026 Pennsylvania is not on the Social Work Licensure Compact commission's list of member jurisdictions: it has not enacted the compact.

Practising in Pennsylvania therefore takes a Pennsylvania license, by the standard route or the endorsement route above.

Pennsylvania did join the Counseling Compact in 2026 (Act 23 of 2026, signed July 12, 2026), but that compact is for counselors, not social workers — one does not carry over to the other.

Nationally, the commission says the compact has reached activation status but multistate licenses are not yet being issued, 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 Board before relying on either status.

All three licenses renew biennially, and each renewal requires 30 clock hours of continuing education during the preceding biennium, in acceptable courses and programs in social work offered by approved providers.

At least 3 of the 30 must relate to ethical issues, and at least 2 must be in child abuse recognition and reporting under § 47.58(b).

Excess clock hours may not be carried over to the next biennium, so over-completing one period buys nothing in the next.

The child-abuse training is not only a renewal item: 3 hours of it is also a condition of original licensure (§ 47.12(6)).

The section's current wording was amended effective March 19, 2022.

Every applicant, at all three tiers, clears § 47.12 first: good moral character; no conviction under The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act or of an offense elsewhere that would be such a felony in Pennsylvania — unless at least 10 years have elapsed and the applicant demonstrates significant progress in personal rehabilitation; an application on Board forms; the fee; two Certificates of Recommendation; at least 3 hours of child abuse recognition and reporting training; and a signed affirmation.

The felony clause is narrower than a blanket bar: it is written around the Controlled Substance Act and its out-of-jurisdiction equivalents.

The Certificates of Recommendation mean lining up two referees is part of the application itself.

The rule even names how to get the forms — by mail to the Board's Harrisburg post office box, by telephone or by email — so the paperwork, not just the hours, is worth starting early.