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Scottish Social Services Council
The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) is responsible for registering people who work in social services and regulating their education and training.
Set up as part of a drive to raise standards in social services, their role is to increase the protection of people who use social services, to raise standards of practice and to increase public confidence in the sector.
Information about the SSSC can be found here or by accessing their website.
- Change to the date of the opening of the housing support register
- Sector Skills Agreement
- Registration of the housing support workforce
- Consultation on Qualification Requirements for Registration of Managers of Care at Home and Housing Support Services
Change to the date of the opening of the housing support register
Adam Ingram, Minister for Children and Early Years announced that managers of care at home services will now be included in the registration process. In a letter to providers he said this decision has been made in recognition of the increasing trend for care at home services to be jointly registered to provide housing support services.
Given that housing support staff are already within the scope of registration, that there are a number of combined housing support and care at home services, and that staff are often interchangeable, there are necessary implications for the commencement of registration for housing support staff.
To ensure concurrent registration of managers in both services, registration of housing support staff will not commence until December 2010, not Autumn 2009 as previously stated. Following this decision the SSSC will consult with the sector on qualifications and fee levels.
Sector Skills Agreement
The Scottish Social Services Council, as part of the Sector Skills Council, Skills for Care and Development (SfCD), commissioned research during autumn and winter 2006 with employers and service users into current skill gaps and future skills needs in the social services sector's workforce. The SSSC has also been gathering data on current education and training provision for the social services sector in Scotland.
If you would like more information on the SSA please visit the SSSC website where you can also access the findings from the research.
Registration of the housing support workforce
Currently positions in housing support are unregulated. However, in the future all staff working within housing support will have to register with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) and to be accepted onto the register will have to hold appropriate qualifications.
The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) announced the qualification framework that housing support staff will be subject to in order to register and maintain registration with the SSSC in 2005.The housing support register will open towards the end of 2010. It is anticipated that managers and supervisors will be registered first with support workers being invited to register at a later date.
Information about registration and the sorts of qualifications which are considered appropriate for qualification is available on the SSSC website.
Consultation on Qualification Requirements for Registration of Managers of Care at Home and Housing Support Services
The SSSC is conducting a consultation exercise which could affect housing support services. Whilst the consultation focuses on care at home managers it does also raise questions about the definition of housing support managers and includes proposals to update the qualification requirements for managers of housing support services.
The consultation document is available to download from the SSSC website. The deadline for responses is the 18th of January 2010.
The Voluntary Sector Social Services Workforce Unit has prepared a briefing to assist those considering the questions addressed in the consultation document:
The Housing Support Enabling Unit has submitted a response to the consultation.