The GSCC & The Conduct Process
The General Social Care Council (GSCC) and the Social Care Register (Register)
The GSCC is the regulatory body responsible for the oversight of social care workforce in England. The GSCC maintains the Register. The GSCC has the power to refuse an applicant entry onto the Register and retains the power to remove Social Workers from the register. It is a criminal offence for anyone not on the register to call themselves a Social Worker. Since 1 April 2005, the title ‘Social Worker’ has been protected in England by Section 61 of the Care Standards Act 2000. All Social Workers in England must register with the GSCC and maintain their registration to be able to practice.
The Registration Committee
This Committee decides whether an individual is suitable to be placed on the Register. The Care Standards Act 2000 states that the Council should be satisfied that the applicant "is of good character." Good character is assessed in several ways. For example by asking for details of criminal offences and disciplinary records; and by considering the chronology of an applicants' employment, study and sabbatical records.
In some cases past criminal convictions do not automatically bar inclusion to the Register. Matters that will be taken into account include the relevance of the offence to social work, the seriousness of the offence and the length of time since the offence.
If you are refused registration onto the Register there is a right of appeal to the Care Standards Tribunal.
GSCC Conduct Process
If a complaint is made against a Social Worker then the GSCC will start to undertake enquiries.
The conduct process is governed by the General Social Care Council (Conduct) Rules 2008. These rules came into force on the 4th March 2009. They replace the General Social Care Council (Conduct) Rules 2003.
The GSCC will look into matters that are so serious that they call into question whether a Social Worker is suitable to continue working in social care. They need to be specific allegations about an identifiable person on the Social Care Register. The GSCC do not look into general employment issues such as sickness, timekeeping or matters relating to the level of service offered.
The steps of the GSCC conduct process are:
1. Referral
The GSCC will usually undertake enquiries to determine whether there is a specific allegation of misconduct against an identifiable person on the social care register. They will also investigate whether the person making the allegation wishes to act as a complainant.
2. Investigation
The GSCC will then start to gather information about the complaint and look to see if the evidence, questions, suitability about the subject of the complaint has been registered. If the GSCC investigation finds there is a real prospect of finding misconduct then they will refer the matter to a Conduct Committee hearing.
3. Committees
The GSCC’s committees are made up of lay members and will meet to establish whether there is evidence of misconduct that affects the identifiable person’s suitability to remain working. It can then decide on the appropriate sanction. There is a right of appeal to the Care Standards Tribunal.
Under the Conduct Process there are two GSCC Committees, the Preliminary Proceedings Committee (PPC) and the Conduct Committee. A Social Worker may be referred to the PPC even though the referrals / investigations stage has not yet been completed.
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