Please see below for latest Disclosure Scotland newsletter update.

Coronavirus update

We are prioritising checks for the workers Scotland needs at this time. Applications will only be processed for roles in the following sectors:

• healthcare
• pharmaceutical
• childcare
• social work
• social care
• prisons and justice

ID checks

We’ve had questions from employers about their identity checking processes, which they are reviewing during coronavirus.

Employers who countersign disclosures must be content with the identity of people applying for their positions. Our Code of Practice for Employers recommends sight of original documentation where possible.

It can be acceptable for employers to establish identity through other means. The key point is that the employer themselves is content with the identity of the person.

Helpline closed

We have temporarily closed our helpline. For help and support, you should now email us.

New application process

We have made a temporary change to our application process. We are no longer accepting paper applications.

Please visit our website for details of the new process. If you are submitting urgent applications related to coronavirus in the upcoming weeks, please email us.

Fees waivered

We are suspending all fees for key workers and volunteers who are being drafted to help Scotland fight against coronavirus.

This is a temporary measure which will be in place for six weeks, before being reviewed and extended further, if needed.

Disclosure (Scotland) Bill

 The Bill, which proposes changes to the disclosure system, completed Stage 2 in the Scottish Parliament on 11 March.You can view the Bill and track its progress on the Parliament website

Happy New Year!

Workforce Matters is the workforce planning and development arm of Scottish Care.  As well as sharing relevant and up to date information about workforce and learning opportunities across the country, we also want to know more about your organisations learning and development needs, particularly those relating to regulatory, Care Inspectorate and SSSC requirements.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions about your organisational workforce needs or would like further information about learning and development opportunities available to Scottish Care members.

Caroline Deane – Workforce Policy & Practice Lead

[email protected]

News and Events

Scottish Care Workforce Matters Focus Groups – An Open Call for Managers and Supervisors in Social Care

Workforce Matters will be holding a number of focus groups in February, initial dates below, and wish to invite Social Care Managers and Supervisors to attend. These focus groups aim to gather opinions and feedback on the most important issues and challenges currently facing those working in both of these roles.

Following the focus groups there will be a brief survey sent out to all members requesting additional feedback based on the information and responses provided. The information gathered during these focus groups and from the survey responses will then form the basis of our next workforce event taking place in April.

Focus groups dates;

• Tuesday 4th February 2020 10am-12pm St Stephen Renfield Centre, 260 Bath Street, G2 4JP
• Wednesday 19th February 2020 2-4pm Randolph Hill Group, 31 Dunedin Street, Edinburgh, EH7 4JG

Please use the link below to register or contact [email protected]

Scottish Government Adult Social Care recruitment campaign

The Scottish Government are launching a national recruitment campaign aimed at frontline workers in adult social care (ASC) on 27th January 2020 and this campaign will run for 8 weeks.

As we are acutely aware, recruitment pressures have been increasing in the social care sector particularly for frontline workers. This campaign is in response to these pressures, and to the National Health and Social Care Workforce Plan which includes a recommendation to deliver a national recruitment campaign to promote social care as a meaningful, valued and rewarding career choice. This campaign aims to attract new recruits into the social care sector, in particular in care homes, care at home and housing support.

Please follow the link below for further details of the campaign.

Bereavement Charter Consultation Events

• Friday 21st February 2020 10am-12pm (Venue to be confirmed)
• Friday 13th March 2020 10am-12pm (Venue: NES Edinburgh)
• Monday 23rd March 2020 10am-12pm (Venue: NES Edinburgh)

Scottish Care has been working with stakeholders and key partners to develop a Bereavement Charter for adults and children in Scotland. The main aims of the charter are to set out clear rights and expectations that any individual living in Scotland should expect to be met following a bereavement and loss.

There will be three consultation events that we are asking care providers and others with a vested interest to attend and participate in developing the final bereavement charter that will be adopted across Scotland.

To register your attendance at one of these events please contact [email protected]

Free NHS Healthy Working Lives ‘Managing Stress at Work’ Event – February 2020 in Glasgow

This is a free NHS event to promote their new, free “Stress at Work” online learning course and will include talking through the relaunched, stress survey tool, “Work Positive” for employers.

Both can help social care providers to improve understanding of stress in their organisations; what can cause it (inside and outside of work) and how to identify key issues.

To be added to the mailing list and to receive further details please email: [email protected]

SSSC Upcoming Events – Registration for these events can be found at SSSCNews.uk.com

5^th February Glasgow

Don’t Panic – The hitchhikers guide to innovations in learning

11^th February Edinburgh

Supporting Improvement learning in Scotland’s Social Services

17^th February Glasgow pm and 19^th February Dundee am & pm

Staying Secure online in health and social services                      

Care Inspectorate Complaints workshops – Date of 29th January (Postponed) – details to follow of new date in February

The Care Inspectorate are holding several workshops in the new year for providers to attend and get helpful information around the complaints process.  This will include the process that the Care Inspectorate use when deciding who will process the complaint for example when they pass complaints back to providers to investigate and deal with.

These workshops will consist of 3 hourly sessions and will be held in various locations around Scotland to make them as available as possible for providers to attend.  Providers will also be given guidance on processing complaints and how best to deescalate issues and concerns from Services users and family members.

Individual Training Account Funding now open

This year Skills Development Scotland (SDS) will fund 10,000 training accounts. Once this target is met the fund will close, so applications must be sent in soon.

ITAs are available to help develop skills for work. If the eligibility criteria are met there is up to £200 towards a single training course or training episode a year.

Response from SSSC regarding members questions during the Registration webinar

Calum Smith in the registration team at SSSC has responded to the questions that were posed by members during the registration webinar last year.  This also includes information around accessing additional funding for social care worker qualifications.

You can find Calum’s response in ‘Past Scottish Care Webinars’ under ‘Useful Downloads’ in the Members Section of this website. 

Calum advised during the webinar he is available to be contacted directly by providers to give ongoing support and to answer questions and queries in relation to registration.  Jenni Tait in the registration team at SSSC has also advised she can be contacted to discuss registration concerns.  Contact emails for Jenni and Calum are below:

[email protected]

[email protected]

Care Inspectorate CAPA Programme

The Care Inspectorate are now on the home straight with the CAPA programme and the team are looking ahead to finish up in April 2020.

They are currently focusing on plans to ensure:

• good endings for care professionals, services, providers, partnerships, community connections and of course the CAPA team
• the spread and sustain of the ‘move more often’ message

The Care Inspectorate are asking for some feedback on;

What would you like us to think about or focus on as we plan for these next stages?

You can respond to me at [email protected] and I will ensure all responses are forwarded to the team or get in touch with them directly via their Twitter and Facebook page.

New Scottish Government Guidance and FAQ’s on Managing Self-Directed Support and Power of Attorney for Adults with Incapacity

The guidance and FAQ’s are aimed at care professionals and were developed with assistance from the Scottish Government’s Adults with Incapacity Team.

Please see links to the guidance and FAQ’s below

Scottish Government – Skills into Scotland Newsletter

Overseas Skills Recognition processes in Scotland

This project is developing a national skills recognition service which builds from Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) processes.  The RPL process will evidence the skills, qualifications and experience gained in countries beyond the UK.  The longer-term ambition is to adapt the process for use by the Scottish population as a whole.

It is essential that all aspects of the process are trusted by employers, education providers and those seeking to get recognition for their skills and experience.  The model is based on bench-marking skills and experience gained overseas against the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework.

Enriching and Improving Experience: new palliative and end of life care toolkit resource from SSSC

The new palliative and end of life care guidance toolkit aims to provide health and social care workers with clear links, guidance and connections between the Enriching and Improving Experience Framework at the informed level and the required register-able qualifications which are considered integral to the delivery of high quality palliative and end of life care.

You can access the toolkit by following the link below:

Updated guidance to support the real living wage commitment for adult social care workers

Please follow the link below to a letter from Ms Freeman, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport and Cllr Peter Johnston , COSLA Health and Social Care spokesperson, with updated guidance on the shared commitment to support payment of the real living wage to everyone delivering adult social care in Scotland.

NES Project Lift – Community Events open – invitation to Social Care colleagues

NHS Education for Scotland are keen to share the details of Project Lift and their community events that are free and open to those working in the social care sector.

Please follow the link below for further information around the project and upcoming events:

Nursing

Exploring and developing Palliative and End of Life Care SCQF 7

The content of the course is based on the NHS Education for Scotland Palliative and End of Life Care Framework at Skilled Level.

For more details and /or informal discussion about the module please contact:

Jacqui Allison Perth College UHI email: [email protected]

Telephone:01738 877601

Healthy Working Lives – NHS Funding available

Healthy Working Lives is a very useful website that gives access to information and training courses for the social care workforce and has funding available from the NHS.  Mentally Healthy Workplace training has been developed by Healthy Working Lives specifically for managers and supervisors. This course is delivered through blended learning and before attending you must complete the Mentally Healthy Workplace eLearning course.

 Use the Flexible Workforce Development Fund to support Career Opportunities

The Scottish Funding Council have released guidance around the use of the flexible workforce development fund.  They have confirmed that qualifications in social services, including those which meet SSSC registration requirements, are eligible.

Part Time Fee Grant for Social Services & Healthcare Qualifications

SSSC have working with Students Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) and NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to produce a new leaflet to help better understand and raise awareness of the Part Time Fee Grant.

The leaflet lists some of the child, health and social care qualifications at SCQF level 7 to 10 that can attract a funding contribution.

For further information please access the leaflet using the link below:

Modern Apprenticeship funding available through Skills Development Scotland

We are pleased to advise that Skills Development Scotland funding has been allocated to training providers for Modern Apprenticeships and this includes funding for staff who are aged over 25.

Workforce Groups

Our Workforce Groups each run quarterly throughout the year and, as ever, we are really keen to have the involvement of our frontline colleagues and more provider participation.  Details of the next dates are listed below:

Joint Scottish Care/SSSC Regulatory Forum

The next meeting will take place on Tuesday 21^st January 2020 between 10.30am and 1pm.  This meeting will take place at Baillieston Community Care, Parkhead School House, 135 Westmuir Street, Glasgow, G31 5EX.

The Regulatory Forum explores how regulation of our services impacts upon them and our workforce. SSSC, who co-chair, advise and guide on new initiatives with providers being able to highlight challenges and solutions on topics such as registration, SVQ, qualifications and training among many others.  We are also delighted to welcome Liz McPake from the Care Inspectorate who will be available to answer questions around improvement, health and social care standards and inspection requirements.  More input from frontline colleagues and providers can only increase our effectiveness, so please come along.

Scottish Care/SSSC Promoting Excellence in Dementia Group

The next meeting will take place on Thursday 20^th February 2020 (This date has been changed) between 10:30am and 12:30pm. The venue has still to be confirmed.

This group allows anyone with an interest in the care of people living with dementia to explore the Promoting Excellence Framework, training opportunities, best practice and hear updates from several different types of services on how they are encouraging and implementing the Framework within their own organisations.  It is always great to have people involved in the direct delivery of dementia care and hear the challenges and successes experienced daily in their work.

Leadership, Learning and Improvement Group

The next meeting will take place on 25th February 2020 10:30am-12:30pm.  This meeting will be held at the SCVO offices, Brunswick House, 51 Wilson Street, Glasgow, G1 1UZ.

This group has a format based loosely round the principles of Action Learning Sets.  For those if you not familiar with action learning please see some background information below.

Briefly this will involve

• One person bringing a ‘wicked issue’
• The group listening, without interruption, to the person presenting their issue
• The use of open questions to gather more data
• The group discussing potential options whilst the presenter listens in
• Actions being identified that may offer change
• The group is updated at the next meeting as to the impact /outcomes of the actions

People felt that this would offer the insights and support that people value most about being in a space with colleagues from across sectors and supports the group getting to know more about the skills held within the group.

We are always looking for more people to come along, particularly frontline colleagues so please do get in touch.

Scottish Care Palliative and End of Life Care Group – for care home & care at home organisations

The next meeting will take place on 4^th February 2020, 2 – 4pm at Renfield St Stephen’s Centre, 260 Bath Street Glasgow G2 4JP.

We are always looking for more people to come along, particularly front-line colleagues.

We greatly appreciate the support of those organisations who have previously hosted our Workforce Groups, with thanks to those hosting the upcoming meetings.

If you would like more information about any of these forums please contact [email protected]

Resources

SSSC Career Pathways Website

The SSSC have developed a fantastic new website dedicated to promoting a career in social care with career stories from those currently working in care.  This website looks to highlight the #lifechangingwork that those working in social care do and to promote social care as a sector with positive career choices and opportunities.

NOS Navigator / Skills sets

This online resource is there to support employers, managers and staff members to identify the most appropriate SVQ units to undertake.  The NOS Navigator is a simple and easy to use tool to help navigate around the national occupational standards for social care services.

The SSSC Learning Zone

The SSSC Learning Zone is an extremely useful resource for keeping your practice up to date.  It includes free to use learning apps covering subject areas such as dementia, adult protection and medication. There is also a career development toolkit which may prove useful to members keen to develop career pathways within their organisations.

SSSC News

Keep Up to Date with all SSSC related news, events and resources at SSSCNews “The online magazine for Scotland’s social services.”