SSSC annual report 2004-2005 news release

The Scottish Social Services Council today publishes its third annual report. The report highlights the progress the regulatory body for the social service workforce in Scotland is making towards raising standards of practice, increasing the professionalism of the workforce and increasing the protection of the people who use social services and their carers.

The SSSC was established to register key groups of Scotland’s 138,000 social services workers and to regulate their education and training.

Morag Alexander, Convener, SSSC said: “This annual report demonstrates the value of working with others to develop the social service workforce we need for Scotland. Collaborative relationships with our stakeholders ensure that we can achieve more together than we could on our own. The annual report emphasises our commitment to involving and consulting with this diverse sector as we work towards our vision of a competent, confident and valued workforce. “

Increasing protection of people who use social services is at the heart of our work and I am pleased at the real progress we have made towards achieving this and all of our objectives.”

The report highlights the work of the SSSC in 2004-2005. This includes:

The new honours degree and postgraduate social work courses approved by the SSSC
the qualification criteria for registration announced for workers in phase two of registration which is due to begin from October 2006
the success of the Care Accolades, the first national award ceremony for social services to recognise and promote excellent practice in workforce development across Scotland
disbursement of £5.4m in bursaries, grants and disbursement providing funding for a variety of training in social services including postgraduate and post qualifying social work course and Scottish Vocational Qualifications
developed new qualifications in social care based on the revised national Occupational Standards
establishing the Scottish Practice Learning Project in June 2004, a joint initiative with the Scottish Institute for Excellence in Social Work Education to promote and develop practice learning across Scotland and to support the development of learning organisations and continuous professional development in the social service sector.

Print copies are available from the SSSC and can be downloaded from the website www.sssc.uk.com

Notes for Editors

Media contacts

Nicky Scott, Communications Manager 01382 207261, 07766 133 243

Background

The SSSC was set up in October 2001 under the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001.

Its objectives are:

to protect those who use services
to raise standards of practice
to strengthen and support the professionalism of the workforce .

The SSSC has five main tasks:

to establish registers of key groups of social services staff
to publish codes of practice for all social services staff and for employers
to regulate the training and education of the workforce
to promote education and training
to undertake the functions of the sector skills council, Skills for Care and Development and this includes workforce planning and development.

Each country in the UK has its own regulatory body. They are: the Care Council for Wales, the General Social Care Council (England), the Northern Ireland Social Care Council and the Scottish Social Services Council. The Councils are each responsible for the registration and regulation of social services workers in their country. They work in co-operation with other regulatory bodies such as the Nursing and Midwifery Council.