Social work is a professional activity aimed at helping individuals, families, groups of individuals and society as a whole in order to promote or restore their ability to function socially, as well as to create favourable conditions for this functioning.

Entitlement to carry out social work is held by persons who have obtained second-level professional higher or academic education in social work or charitable social work.

The purpose of social work is to help persons, families and groups of persons to identify, solve or reduce social problems by developing the person's own resources and involving support systems.

The professional activity of a social worker and a charitable social worker is aimed at achieving and promoting practical solutions to an individual's social problems and improvement of his quality of life, inclusion in society, ability to help himself.

Social worker and charitable social worker, after evaluating the circumstances:

1) provides a person with help and support in solving social problems;

2) helps a person develop the ability to solve personal, interpersonal and social problems;

3) supports a person's development opportunities, as well as the right to independently make decisions and implement them;

4) attracts and employs socio-economic resources and relevant social services for solving social problems of persons and groups of persons;

5) provides information on social service providers and establishes contacts between social service recipients and providers.

When performing professional tasks, social workers and charitable social workers follow the code of ethics for social workers, which is approved by the Latvian Association of Social Workers [Latvijas sociālo darbinieku biedrība].

In order to receive a social work service, one must apply to the municipal social service according to the person's declared or registered place of residence.