Health and Sport Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Official Report 547KB pdf

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Subordinate Legislation

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Registration of Social Workers and Social Service Workers in Care Services (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2017 [draft]

Agenda item 3 is consideration of an affirmative Scottish statutory instrument. As is usual with affirmative instruments, we will have an evidence-taking session with the minister and his officials, and once all our questions have been answered, we will have a formal debate on the motion.

I welcome to the meeting Mark McDonald, the Minister for Childcare and Early Years, and from the Scottish Government Diane White, senior policy officer, office of the chief social work adviser; and Ruth Lunny, principal legal officer. I invite the minister to make a brief statement.

Certainly, convener. Thank you for the opportunity to introduce the regulations, which are made under sections 78(2) and 104(1) of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 and amend regulation 5 of and the schedule to the principal regulations, which are the Registration of Social Workers and Social Service Workers in Care Services (Scotland) Regulations 2013.

Regulation 5 of the principal regulations, read with the schedule thereto, requires social service workers within the scope of registration to register with the Scottish Social Services Council. Specifically, the regulations require all new workers commencing employment for the first time in any of the groups within the scope of registration to achieve registration within six months of commencing that employment. Where persons are already working as social service workers, the dates specified in the schedule are the dates by when those workers must achieve registration.

The draft regulations before you relate to the latest groups of workers for whom registration with the SSSC will commence in October 2017—support workers working in care at home and housing support services. In fact, they are the last groups of social service workers within the current scope of registration who will require to register with the SSSC. The 2017 regulations amend the schedule to the principal regulations to specify the two additional descriptions of social service worker requiring to register with the SSSC—a support worker in a care-at-home service and a support worker in a housing support service—and to set the date by which existing workers in those services must achieve registration with the SSSC as 30 September 2020.

In summary, the regulations maintain and fulfil the policy intention, which has commanded support from all parties, that registration with the Scottish Social Services Council is a prerequisite of employment and continuing employment as a social service worker. They also provide the final dates for the achievement of registration for those final groups of workers.

Thank you. Is there any evidence about who pays the £25 annual registration fee? Does all of it fall on individual staff members? We know that staff in this field are some of the lowest paid and that their employment is among the most precarious of many of our public sector workers. Do they have to pick up that fee themselves, or is their employer paying it for them?

Individual workers usually pay their annual registration fee to the SSSC. As you have identified, the fee for the groups concerned will be £25, which, apart from the fee for social work students, is, I believe, the lowest charged by the SSSC for registration. It is worth noting that individuals can claim tax relief against their registration fee, which would reduce the cost from £25 to about £20.

Do you have evidence that any employers are picking up that fee?

I am not aware of employers who are paying it—I do not have the kind of comprehensive information in front of me that would make me aware of that. There might be some employers who choose to pay it, but I personally am not aware of any.

Do any members have questions?

I realise that registration is a requirement of the SSSC, but has there been any Government consultation on the issue raised by the convener? If so, what feedback did you receive? We are desperately trying to recruit more people into the profession and although the fee itself might not be a lot to some people, it might be a barrier for others. Has there been any discussion of a waiver for those who find it to be a barrier that they cannot overcome?

It was not the Government’s role to consult on the matter. It was the SSSC that consulted with the sector; it contacted more than 90,000 individuals and received 3,813 responses, which is a 4.2 per cent response rate. Undoubtedly some individuals will be unhappy that the fees are going up across the piece, but if you look at the general trend of monetary increases, you will see that the uplift for most of the lower-paid end of the spectrum is very small. I have also asked SSSC to look at the possibility of introducing an income-related system for registration fees in the future, and it is considering that suggestion.

For an average care worker, the fee is probably equivalent to three hours’ pay, which is quite significant.

We now move to agenda item 4, which is the formal debate on the affirmative SSI on which we have just taken evidence. I invite the minister to move motion S5M-05208.

Motion moved,

That the Health and Sport Committee recommends that the Registration of Social Workers and Social Service Workers in Care Services (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2017 [draft] be approved.—[Mark McDonald]

Motion agreed to.

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Regulation of Care (Social Service Workers) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2017 (SSI 2017/95)

Agenda item 5 is consideration of a negative instrument. No motion to annul has been lodged and the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee has made no comment on the instrument.

If there are no comments, does the committee agree to make no recommendations?

Members indicated agreement.

Thank you. As previously agreed, we will continue the meeting in private.

12:13 Meeting continued in private until 12:44.