NATOPSS Learn to Care Annual Conference 2223 May 2006

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NATOPSS Learn to Care Annual Conference22-23
May 2006
Developing the regulatory agenda for the social
care workforce Graham Ixer Senior Policy
Advisor General Social Care Council
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THE GSCC WHAT DO WE DO?

• Set up and maintain the Social Care Register.
• Develop and promote the codes of practice for
  social care workers and employers.
• Investigate alleged misconduct of registered
  social care workers.
• Approve courses and qualifications in social work
  education and quality-assure them.
• Pay student bursaries and grants to social work
  education and training providers.

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REGISTRATION WHERE ARE WE NOW?

• April 2003 Social Care Register opened
• April 2005 Protection of the title of social
  worker
• September 2005 Registration of social work
  students
• 7 February 2006 Government announces next
  groups to join the Social Care Register
• 16 February 2006 GSCC consultation on next
  social care groups opened
• 12 May 2006 Consultation closes

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THE REGISTERED SOCIAL WORK PROFESSION

• Over 80,000 now registered, nearly 5,000 overseas
  workers
• Ongoing training a key part of registration so
  that registrants keep their skills up-to-date.
• New guidance on PRTL on GSCC website
• Review of PRTL policy later in the year
• Misconduct of registered social workers
  investigated and power to remove from register.

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SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION TRAINING

• New PQ framework and new awards
• leadership and management
• children, carers and families
• practice education, and
• due soon mental health and adults.
• Early start PQ courses ready to start September
  2006.
• Social work degree graduates this autumn.

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EMERGING CONDUCT FUNCTION

• Now we have 80,000 registrants starting to
  receive referrals about conduct matters 400
  received to date.
• 9 people on interim suspension orders.
• 3 conduct hearings one waiting outcome, one
  adjourned, one pending and others coming.
• Applying conduct rules for the first time in
  terms of process, 3 stages referral,
  investigation, adjudication.

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WHO ARE THE NEXT GROUPS TO REGISTER?

• The GSCC is preparing to register domiciliary and
  residential social care workers in adults and
  children.
• This will cover around 750,000 staff in wide
  variety of roles and settings.
• High turnover rate in the sector is an issue, but
  we are confident registration will support
  retention.
• Staff included are working in both adult and
  childrens services across the statutory,
  not-for-profit and private sectors.
• All staff working in residential and domiciliary
  care services for adults and children.
• Will not include
• staff working in day centres
• staff offering exclusively health care services
  and
• staff providing care services through direct
  payment by service users.

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WHY THESE GROUPS?

• Health Select Committee on Elder Abuse
  recommended registration of domiciliary care
  workers because of the direct unsupervised access
  to service users high risk activity
• From the first 100 on POVA list, 89 were
  residential or domiciliary care workers
• April 2004 February 2005 CSCI dealt with 1320
  abuse complaints from care homes of which 494
  were upheld
• Hidden Voices report analysed 7000 helpline
  telephone calls of which 34 were from people
  abused by paid social care workers

www.gscc.org.uk
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BENEFITS OF REGISTERING NEXT GROUPS

• Over 1.5million people benefit from using social
  care at one time.
• Registration provides clarity and consistency in
  terms of service expectations.
• Registration means social care workers are
  accountable for their conduct and practice
• Registration acts as a gatekeeper - prevents
  unsuitable people from entering the register
• Without regulation, there is no assurance that
  care workers are
• who they say they are
• committed to consistently high standards
• properly checked against registers and by
  employers
• fit to hold the responsibilities of social care
  and
• accountable for their work.

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JIGSAW OF HIGHER STANDARDS

• Already have
• CSCI - regulate services
• CRB - check for criminal convictions
• National Minimum standards set out what is
  expected (along with GSCC codes of practice)
• POVA and POCA list those who cannot work with
  certain vulnerable groups
• GSCC emphasis is on positive, light touch
  regulation for the individual social care worker
  higher standards achieved through the codes and
  ongoing training
• Social Care Register is a positive register of
  those who consistently work to high standards
  accountability should improve status of the
  workforce.

www.gscc.org.uk
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THE CONSULTATION

• The consultation on the registration of next
  groups ran from 16 February to 12 May 2006.
• The purpose of the consultation was to gather
  views from the sector on how registration of next
  groups would work.
• It asked questions specifically about
• registration requirements
• the cost of registration
• the period of time registration would last and
• post registration training requirements.

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ANALYSING THE RESPONSES

• We received approximately 2500 responses from
  across the sector.
• Many issues were raised throughout the
  consultation.
• We want safe, trustworthy and reliable staff
  that respect us.
• Service User, Birmingham service user event
• A data analyst is collating results from the
  consultation.
• We will analyse the consultation responses, not
  just from the written consultation responses but
  from the events we held, e.g. regional focus
  groups, service user event, and stakeholder jury.
• We will publish a report highlighting the key
  outcomes. (RIA) 

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FUTURE CHALLENGES

• Embedding the codes of practice in day-to-day use
• Developing registration requirements for the next
  groups
• Conduct taking tough decisions around individual
  registrations conduct hearings taking place
• Focus on strong workforce accountability
• Registering the wider workforce issues of volume
  of staff, diversity of roles and settings,
  straddling children and adults services
• Building a trained and trusted workforce.
• Its about the people who use services they
  deserve the highest standards of social care.

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CONTACT THE GSCC

• Telephone [phone]
• Email info_at_gscc.org.uk
• Registration 0845 070 0630
• Email registration_at_gscc.org.uk
• Website www.gscc.org.uk