Proposed changes to SSSC registration requirements
Overview
Social services is one of Scotland’s largest sectors, employing approximately 210,000 individuals across social work, social care and children and young people’s services – making up roughly 8% of Scotland’s employed population. Those working in social services are often supporting the most vulnerable members of our society. It is vital that they are equipped with the appropriate skills, behaviours, values and approaches to enable them to undertake this work.
Registration and regulation of the social services workforce are long-standing elements of Scottish Ministers’ policy to the delivery of public protection. As the independent regulator for the social services workforce in Scotland, it is the role of the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) to protect the public by registering and regulating social service workers, setting standards for practice, conduct, training and education.
This consultation seeks your views on various proposed changes to registration requirements which will further strengthen the SSSC’s ability to deliver their public protection functions. These changes are:
- mandating the registration of three new groups of social service workers with the SSSC, following findings from the SSSC’s consultation on New Registered Groups. These groups are social work assistants, workers in adult day care services and workers in offender accommodation services. This will mean that anyone working as a social work assistant, worker in adult day care services or worker in offender accommodation services in Scotland will have to be registered with the SSSC.
- mandating that all social workers working in Scotland are registered with the SSSC
- updating the list of organisations which a social service worker can be registered with, which excludes them from the requirement to be registered with the SSSC.
Read the consultation paper. The consultation paper contains full background information for this consultation. You may find it useful to read or refer to while responding.
Consultation questions preview
The consultation questions are included here for your reference. Please click 'Begin consultation' at the bottom of this page to proceed.
Question 1
Do you agree that support workers, practitioners and supervisors employed within an adult day care service in Scotland should be subject to registration with the SSSC? Please note that if registered, it is the responsibility of the SSSC to determine definitions in respect of the new group, any qualification and continuous professional learning standards, and registration fees of each category of worker.
Question 2
Do you agree that practitioners, supervisors and managers employed within an offender accommodation service in Scotland should be subject to registration with the SSSC? Please note that if registered, it is the responsibility of the SSSC to determine definitions in respect of the new group, any qualification and continuous professional learning standards, and registration fees of each category of worker.
Question 3
Do you agree that social work assistants working in Scotland should be subject to registration with the SSSC? Please note that if registered, it is the responsibility of the SSSC to determine definitions in respect of the new group, any qualification and continuous professional learning standards, and registration fees of social work assistants.
Question 4
Currently, social workers can be employed in Scotland without being registered with the SSSC, if they are registered with another relevant UK regulator. Do you agree that all social workers who are employed in Scotland should be required to register with the SSSC?
Question 5
Do you agree that references made within the Regulation of Care (Social Service Workers) (Scotland) Order 2024 to the ‘General Teaching Council for England’ and the ‘General Teaching Council for Wales’ are removed and updated respectively, to reflect current position?
Question 6
Please provide any further comments on the proposals set out in this consultation in the box below.
Useful information about responding to this consultation
As you complete your response, each page will provide the option to 'Save and come back later' at the bottom. This means you can save your progress and return to the consultation at any time before it closes. If you don't use this feature and leave the consultation midway through, your response will be lost.
Once you have submitted your response, you can enter your email address to get a pdf copy of your answers sent to you.
On the 'About You' page at the end of this consultation, organisations will have the opportunity to tell us more about their work and/or how their response was informed.
After the consultation has closed there will be a few months delay before any responses are published. This is because we must check any responses to be published abide by our Terms of Use.
All relevant submitted responses will be analysed. This may be carried out by third party organisations who Scottish Government, its executive agencies or non-ministerial offices, contract to do this work. Such data sharing will be governed by appropriate contractual arrangements to keep your data secure.
An analysis report will usually be published some months after the consultation has closed. This report will summarise the findings based on all responses submitted. It will be published on the Scottish Government website and you may be notified about it if you choose to share your email address with us.
You can also join our consultation mailing list where we regularly list newly published analysis reports (as well as new consultations).
Give us your views
Interests
- Health and Social Care
- Main hub
- Work and Skills
Share
Share on Twitter Share on Facebook