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As of 2015 January, do Romanian citizens need to apply for a work permit to be able to work in the UK?
Note: I am aware that work permits were needed in the past, and this requirement was meant to be lifted at some date---not sure which date, or whether it is still in effect.
Under the EU law there were separate arrangements for Bulgarian and Romanian nationals before 1 January 2014. Those restrictions have now been lifted and Bulgarian/Romanian nationals can work freely in the UK. It is important to remember that if you are applying for Permanent Residency or British Citizenship, and your qualifying period includes time spent in the UK before January 2014, you still have to show you had complied with the applicable restrictions at the time.
TL;DR - No
The term you probably want to be using when googling for this sort of thing is "Enlargement Transitional Provisions". There's lots of information on it all on this section of Europa.eu
In short, the UK applied transitional provisions against workers from Romania and Bulgaria for the maximum period of time allowed under the rules, but these expired after December 2013. You can find more on that in this news article, and this UK Parliament briefing paper. With the lifting of those restrictions, Romanians and Bulgarians no longer need work permits of similar for the UK, everything is the same as for any other EU citizen wanting to move and work in the UK.
There are restrictions on benefits, which may well get stricter in the near future based on current political discussions, but no longer any on working
