Care services minister Phil Hope (right) has pledged to “win
back public confidence” in social care by extending compulsory
registration to England’s 500,000 home care workers.
The General Social Care Council will begin registering staff
early next year on a voluntary basis before the scheme becomes
mandatory.
Training and standards
All GSCC registrants must abide by the code of practice and meet
conditions on training and professional standards or risk being
struck off, in line with current regulations for social
adult social care workforce strategy, launched by the minister
at the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services’ spring
seminar.
Rogue workers
Speaking to adult services chiefs yesterday, Hope said: “We’ve
got a real job of work to do to win back the public confidence in
safeguarding standards.”
The announcement comes two weeks after a BBC Panorama
documentary involving undercover reporters highlighted poor
practice in domiciliary care in cities including York and
London.
Referring to the programme, the minister admitted: “We know
there are some workers that threaten the regulation of the whole
sector.”
Need for good publicity
Assuring public safety and raising standards of care through
regulation is one of six priorities in the strategy, which says
registration could be extended to other parts of the workforce.
Hope said this could include residential staff.
The minister called on Adass members to support efforts to
promote social care through positive media coverage – a key
objective of Community Care’s
Stand Up Now for
Social Work campaign.
He said: “We should present the admirable face of social care, the
one that you [as directors] recognise and see every day. It’s a
face the public need to see a lot more of.”
Green paper
Hope confirmed that the forthcoming green paper on the long-term
future of England’s care and support system would be launched in
June.
He said the opportunity for reform would prove to be a “watershed”
in “laying the foundations for a different kind of caring,
positive, and more equal-minded society”.
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External information
Why England needs a new care and support system