Welcome to the May edition of the Voluntary Sector Social Services Workforce Unit's e-bulletin.
You are receiving this because you subscribed to e-bulletins from the Workforce Unit. If you have problems viewing the e-bulletin, please go to our website
Our bulletins will keep you up to date with the latest voluntary sector social services workforce development issues. If you have a workforce development event or initiative you would like to publicise please let us know and we will include it in future editions. If you think a colleague may be interested in the bulletin then please forward it. If they would like to sign up for the bulletin, they can sign up online.
If you have problems viewing the images, you can add this email address to your safe sender list or address book, or click in the image box and follow the instructions there.
Lisa Pattoni
Information and Communications Officer
lisa.pattoni@ccpscotland.org
Content
The Scottish Government has now published the application form, equality monitoring form and guidance notes for the 2010 Voluntary Sector Development Fund (VSDF) - all are available from the Workforce Unit Website.
The purpose of the VSDF is to contribute to the costs associated with meeting the qualification criteria set by the SSSC for registration and to assist employers in achieving a qualified workforce. This year the fund will support:
Applications must be returned to the Scottish Government by Friday 3 September 2010.
If you have any queries relating to the VSDF, please do not hesitate to contact the Workforce Unit's specialist enquiry service - we'd be happy to help.
The Workforce Unit's guide to 'Understanding Qualifications Pathways' has been updated to incorporate the qualification requirements for Care at Home Managers. This includes changes to the Housing Support Manager definition and qualifications requirements.
Download the latest version here.
Jubilee House, Forthside Way, Stirling
1st June, 10am - 1pm (followed by lunch)
The Workforce Unit is pleased to present a joint event with the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and the Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care (SIRCC) which aims to offer support to:
The event will focus on:
This event is FREE, and a networking lunch will be provided. For more information, and to book a place, please visit the events section of the Workforce Unit website. Alternatively, please contact Laura Weir on 01786 849752.
The Workforce Unit's host organisation, Community Care Providers Scotland (CCPS) has now moved to new premises.
From 3 May 2010 CCPS’s new address and phone number will be:
Norton Park,
57 Albion Road,
Edinburgh,
EH7 5QY,
Tel. 0131 475 2676.
Email addresses will remain unchanged.
CCPS is also seeking to appoint an experienced Administrator to support the Director of CCPS and ensure the smooth running of the organisation, view full vacancy details here.
The Workforce Unit has a role in adding value to the national workforce development agenda - through promoting and sharing practice from the voluntary sector. As such, we've updated our website with some new sharing practice examples focused around the implementation of personalisation.
Do you have an idea or example of workforce practice that you want to tell others about? Have you adapted a tool and made it really work for your organisation? Are you looking at workforce development in an innovative way? Then we want to know about it! To discuss this further, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
The National Strategy for Self-Directed Support in Scotland has been developed to help take forward the personalisation of health and social care services in Scotland.
The Workforce Unit response to this consultation is available from the consultation pages of our website. This response was compiled with assistance from our Policy Advisory Group and input from our consultation meeting on 30th April 2010.
The consultation closes on Friday 7th May 2010. Please feel free to use or adapt information from the Workforce Unit response within your own response.
Collaborative Working - The Legal Considerations
In collaboration with Maclay Murray & Spens (MMS), the Workforce Unit and Housing Support Enabling Unit are pleased to announce two events with a unique focus on the legal implications of different models of collaborative working. Including:
These event will be held on: 2nd September 2010 in Edinburgh and 3rd September 2010 in Glasgow.
Make a note of these dates in your diary now!
More information will be available on the Workforce Unit and Housing Support Enabling Unit websites soon.
Hampden Park, Glasgow
Wednesday 9th June, 9.15am - 3pm
Three leading Scottish charities; Values into Action Scotland, Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability and ENABLE Scotland, have joined forces to organise Young Scotland's Got Talent, an employment conference for people with learning difficulties and individuals on the autistic spectrum. The conference aims to challenge the high unemployment rates of this group, currently at 82% compared with 7.8% for the rest of Scottish society.
For more conference information or to book a place at the free event, please call Christine or Fiona at SCLD on 0141 418 5420 or download the booking form here.
Crieff Hydro Hotel, Perthshire
Wednesday 12th - 14th May, 9.15am - 3pm
The delivery of support care and protection services is facing unprecedented challenges. A challenge to traditional models of service delivery arising from increased expectation of quality, individual control and choice.
The Association of Directors of Social Work's annual conference will examine the challenges to traditional professional demarcation that demands flexibility and sometimes uncomfortable compromise, all within the context of a serious recession and the consequences of that on public service funding, particularly in a climate of intense and often hostile media coverage.
For more information, please visit the ADSW website.
Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh
Friday 25th June 2010
The aim of the conference is to enable lead NHS Clinicians, Managers, Third Sector and Local Authority services to:
This event is Free. To register for the event please visit NHS Education for Scotland's website.
Registration closes on Friday 11 June 2010 - a full programme will be sent out on confirmation of registration
Edinburgh Corn Exchange,
Wednesday 23 June 2010
Recovery Scotland is a unique event taking a person-centred and community-led approach to substance misuse. The event is only £20 to attend and the day will incorporate an exhibition, seminar programme and zones.
Recovery Scotland will explore five key themes that are vital to Scotland’s workforce within health, social work, housing and education:
Online booking and further information is available at www.recovery-scotland.com or call Pavilion customers services on 0844 880 5061
Thistle Hotel, Cambridge St, Glasgow
Monday 7th June, 10am- 4.15pm
In May 2010 the Scottish Government will be launching its National Dementia Strategy - it will represent a major milestone in the history of dementia care in Scotland. This conference will celebrate the Strategy which aims to transform the lives of people with dementia and their families. It will focus on issues for implementation and how everyone in the dementia care field can play their part.
The conference will focus on the implementation of the following key strands in the Strategy:
• Human rights and service re-design
• Improving access to diagnosis and post diagnosis support
• Improving choice in the community for people with dementia and their carers
• Improving the health care and medical treatment of people with dementia
• Improving standards and the quality of life for people with dementia in care homes
• Improving the care of people with dementia in general hospitals
For more information, download the event flyer and booking form. Contact Dorothy Keith at 0131 243 1453 or dkeith@alzscot.org to book a place.
The skills, expertise and creativity of the people who work in social services must be fully utilised, whether in the statutory, voluntary or private sector if we are to cope with an expected five years of cuts in the Scottish budget. This was the view of Children and Early Years Minister Adam Ingram when he opened the debate on the social services workforce in the Scottish Parliament on 29 April. He went on to say that opportunities to share training, develop common skills and break down culture, language and technology barriers must be identified and grasped. In a wide ranging debate the need for strong, focused and purposeful leadership at national and local level was recognised.
Community Care Providers Scotland (CCPS), with input from the Workforce Unit, submitted a briefing to the debate highlighting the role of the voluntary sector social services workforce and some of the key demands/issues facing them at the moment. The Minister made the following remarks:
"We recognise the important contribution and innovative approaches that voluntary sector organisations provide in relation to care and support services in our communities. I do not want to see any diminution of that contribution. I have been concerned of late by a tendency at local authority level to look to ditch support for some non-statutory services, which is a big mistake in the long run.
We may be able to tackle the issue through the development of our community planning partnership approach and single outcome agreements, but we need to get all the various partners much closer together on that front."
As such, community planning partnerships were also seen as key vehicles by working strategically to manage combined resources to deliver joined-up health, social care and educational support. Read the full transcript.
The Scottish Government announced the outcomes of this consultation on 23rd April 2010. A summary of the main changes to the consultation drafts is included below. More information is available on the Workforce Unit website.
Fees Regulations
The Workforce Unit's response to the consultation highlighted concerns that the proposed fee levels of £59 for scheme record disclosures and scheme membership, and a lower fee of £18 for scheme record updates were significantly higher than the current rates for enhanced disclosure checking, and would place a significantly higher financial burden on voluntary sector organisations. Although the Scottish Government acknowledges that there was general concern about fee levels, it will not be changing these fee levels. However, consideration will be given to extending the period of retrospective checking in order to assist organisations in spreading the costs of joining the scheme. This issue will be addressed through consultation on retrospective checking as part of the Scottish Statutory Instrument (SSI) required to enforce it. This SSI will not be laid before 2011.
Time limit to 'upgrade' from a Scheme Record Update to a Scheme Record
The Scottish Government has increased the 14 day time period for organisations to request an 'upgrade' from a Scheme Record Update to a Scheme Record to 30 days.
Annual subscription for registered bodies: Fees levels
The Scottish Government is proposing to replace the existing charges with an annual registration charge of £15 per counter signatory subject to a minimum annual charge of £75. This would provide organisations with an incentive to remove inactive counter-signatories. [Current registration charges are a one-off charge of £150 plus £10 per counter signatory.] Introduction of the annual subscription is subject to the provisions in the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill currently before Parliament and the secondary legislation which will follow that. They are unlikely to be implemented until after the PVG scheme goes live.
Full details can be found in the latest issue of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme (PVG Scheme) Progress Update Newsletter from the Scottish Government.
Talking Mats® help involve people with dementia and their carers in decision making
A new report (published 29th April 2010) from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows that Talking Mats, a low-tech communication tool, can help people with dementia, and their carers, participate fully in discussions about everyday care. According to the study, family carers reported that Talking Mats made them feel 'listened to' by the person with dementia.
They also felt that their relative could actually 'see' their point of view when using the mats; they can help people negotiate over day-to-day decisions; and the mats also offer a way for recording joint views to inform later decisions made with members of the wider support community.
The Care Commission is conducting a survey to find out what access care homes and day services have to support from Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) in relation to those activities that sit under the banner of rehabilitation, the type of support provided and how much a culture of enablement is promoted in the care sector.
Click on the link below to complete this survey. The closing date for responses is Monday 31 May 2010.
Please note: this survey should only be completed by care homes and day services for older people.
Rehabilitation Survey
The information from this process will give a National baseline to inform the implementation of the Delivery Framework for Adult Rehabilitation 2007. It can provide helpful data on areas to target, areas of good practice and information on building capacity and capability.
If you have any questions regarding the survey, or would like to request further information, please contact: Edith Macintosh (Rehabilitation Consultant)
SSSC (Appointments, Procedures and Access to the Register) Regulations 2001
The Workforce Unit has received information regarding proposed changes to the above regulation. Download/read the letter from the Scottish Government here.
Scottish Ministers intend bringing forward an amendment to the 2001 Regulations that would give the SSSC the discretion to withhold information such as the names of a person, the part of the register where a person is registered, registration status and the postal town of employment if disclosing such information could be considered to cause danger to the social service worker.
The Workforce Unit will be responding to this letter and are keen to hear your views. The Workforce Unit's Policy Advisory Committee has discussed this letter and contributed the following points:
Please do not hesitate to get in touch with any comments, feedback or issues you would like to raise.
The Continuous Learning Framework (CLF) describes what people need to be able to do their job well now and in the future and what employers need to do support their employees. It focuses on four key areas:
The CLF was published in December 2008 and was developed by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) in partnership with the Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (IRISS) as one of the recommendations made by ‘Changing Lives: the Report of the 21st Century Social Work Review’.
The new website shows practical examples of the CLF, tools and techniques, help and resources, case studies, evaluations and contact details for the project team to help assist you in putting the CLF into practice.
This email is intended for subscribers only. If you have received it by mistake, please email vswu.admin@ccpscotland.org, and you will be removed from the mailing list.
If you would like to remove your details from the mailing list at any point, please send an email to vswu.admin@ccpscotland.org and include your name, organisation and the email address you used to subscribe to the e-bulletin.
