Private Care Sector Workforce Initiative
Introduction
The Register of Social Service Workers in Scotland opened on 1 April 2003.
Registration is a major part of the drive for higher standards in social services and will bring the social care workforce in line with other professional colleagues. Nursing, medicine and teaching are all regulated professions and workers have to register with their own regulatory bodies to be able to work in their field. Now social service workers have to do the same. The body that deals with registration of the workforce is the Scottish Social Services Council . Care provider organisations must register with the Care Inspectorate (formerly known as Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland). Workers are placed in different categories according to the setting within which they are employed. For the purposes of the independent care sector, the settings are:
Click here for a table outlining the required registration dates for compulsory registration across the Social Services.
- Holding the appropriate qualifications for the job they do and:
- Being able to evidence good character.
Unless you are a social worker, to register with the SSSC you must also:
- Work in a service that is registered by the Care Inspectorate
- Not currently be registered with one of the following regulatory bodies:
The SSSC online form will walk you through the application process and form step-by-step. To get started, create an account with MySSSC.
Care Inspectorate Monitoring of Compulsory Registrations
The Care Inspectorate has responsibility for enforcing required workforce registration on behalf of the Government. It is now an offence for a service to employ a worker who is not registered with the SSSC. Where workers are not registered appropriately, the Care Inspectorate may make requirements, reflect non-registration in inspection reports and grades and even take enforcement action. The Care Inspectorate may also take steps to report service providers to the Procurator Fiscal if necessary.
The Care Inspectorate will contact services on an ongoing basis as SSSC registration is required for parts of the social care workforce. In addition, providers will be asked for information about their employees' registration status through annual returns and this will inform scrutiny activities such as service inspections. Read more.
Registration Criteria
Applicants for registration who do not hold the required qualifications may, if they meet all the other eligibility criteria for registration eg evidence of ‘good character’, be granted registration subject to the condition that they achieve the required qualifications within a specified period which will normally be three years when they apply for re-registration. Full criteria.
