A review of social care regulation in Scotland is recommending that agencies that provide social care support staff and individual personal assistants should be registered for the first time.

The Independent Review of Inspection, Scrutiny and Regulation was ordered by then-social care minister Kevin Stewart to identify gaps in the Scottish regulatory system and set out how people get the support and protection they need.

It was chaired by former chief executive of the City of Edinburgh Council, Dame Sue Bruce, with support as vice chair from Stuart Currie, the former East Lothian councillor and health and social care spokesperson for the local government organisation COSLA.

The nine other independent review panel members included academics, social workers, a third sector representative and a former chief constable.

In her foreword to the report, which makes a total of 38 recommendations, Dame Sue states that there is:

“…a palpable sense that the review provides a real opportunity to support an inspection and regulatory system that works better for those using and providing social care support services and that puts human rights and fairness at the very centre."

However, she also acknowledges that the review is just the latest report to identify the need for change across social care, including The Promise, the Independent Review of Adult Social Care in Scotland, Putting Learners at the Centre, and Trust and Respect.

She says there has been “an implementation gap” and points to the need for progress to be accelerated.

The review states that a number of staff groups – including social work assistants, family support workers, and community outreach – are not currently subject to any inspection, scrutiny or regulation.

The review team says the most frequently discussed service, “mentioned by a large minority of respondents” in response to the call for evidence and at events, were personal assistants (PAs).

The report recommends that “a co-produced and bespoke scheme of registration for PAs, which recognises their skills and role and opens up access to training and development”.

A further recommendation is for a universal requirement for all social care support staff to be registered with a regulatory body as a condition of employment.

Agencies that hire out non-nursing social care staff are currently unregulated. The review says that this should change.

The review team say that ministers should undertake a review of all the different regulators to "clarify roles and responsibilities between organisations to streamline inspection activity, remove repeat inspections by different agencies and to reduce duplication and omission". It also says the government needs to have 'market oversight' of the sustainability of the social care sector.

A central plank of the legislation seeking to set an up a national care service is around sharing of data between health and social care. The report recommends that people should be at the centre of the process, and have access to their own data in ways that help support them to be involved in decisions about their care as well as allowing service planning and improvement.

In a statement issued to accompany the publication of the report, Scotland’s Minister for Social Care Maree Todd thanked the review team, adding:

“We know that social care has faced many challenges in recent years – with energy and wage costs increasing, Brexit affecting recruitment and retention and huge efforts to protect some of our most vulnerable from the COVID pandemic.

“Over the summer, as part of our work to develop a national care service, I met with people who receive care, their loved ones, and those who work in the sector – so I too have seen the desire for meaningful change to address the challenges.

“This review will be vital in helping us deliver the social care support services people deserve and also support the incredible workforce and I will give it my full consideration before updating Parliament on our next steps."

 

Read more: Unheard: Care workers and COVID; Ready to fail - or already failed?; Regulator promises focus on supporting workforce; Review has no plan to register PAs

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