A top civil servant has said the government is still committed
to opening the social care register to domiciliary workers, nearly
two years after the scheme was originally due to be launched.
Glen Mason, director for social care leadership and performance
at the Department of Health, said the model of registration was
still being developed in partnership with the General Social Care
Council.
Speaking at the
Skills for
Care annual conference in London today, Mason said discussions
were focusing on how to deliver the registration "with the least
bureaucracy but most added value”.
Last May, the care services minister
Ivan Lewis announced that the scheme, originally planned for
April 2007, would be launched in “weeks rather than months". But
Mason (right), speaking in place of care services minister Phil
Hope, told Community Care today that there was no
deadline.
He added: “There is a danger that if we don’t get it right there
will be disincentives [for people to join the workforce]. It's an
important tool to lever up the quality of the care they
provide.”
Mason confirmed that the long-awaited adult social care
workforce strategy, which will include newly qualified social
worker status for those working with adults, would be published
this spring.
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