Scottish Social Services Workforce Data
Pages
Pages
Mental Health Officer (MHO) survey
The SSSC took over responsibility for conducting the Mental Health Officer (MHO) survey in 2012 from the Scottish Government. The survey covers those social workers employed as Mental Health Officers (MHOs) by Scottish Local Authorities.
The survey is conducted every December and it provides the data for the annual MHO survey report.
The UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) assessed the SSSC’s MHO report for compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics in the second half of 2013. This assessment was considered at a meeting of their Assessment Committee in March 2014. The ensuing report identified six requirements to be met by the SSSC to ensure that its MHO publication retained its National Statistics status. The SSSC responded to these requirements in June 2014, and in July 2014, the UKSA announced that their Assessment Committee had approved the recommendation that the SSSC's MHO report should retain its National Statistics status.
The six UKSA requirements and the SSSC’s response to them are documented here.
The official UKSA announcement confirming the retention of National Statistics status for the SSSC's MHO Report is available here.
MHO Survey Group
The MHO Survey Group was chaired and operated by the SSSC as a forum for local authorities who are the main data providers and users of the MHO report. The group met once or twice a year to discuss the operation of the MHO survey. In 2014 the group was merged with the LASWS Staffing Group to become the Local Authority Workforce Data Providers Group (DPG), about which you can read here.
Minutes
You can download papers from previous group meetings:
Date | Description | File type | |
---|---|---|---|
7 October 2013 | Agenda and minutes | Download | |
21 September 2012 | Minutes | Download |
Local authority social work services (LASWS) survey
The SSSC chairs and organises the Local Authority Workforce Data Providers Group (LAWDPG, or DPG for short) as a forum for local authorities and the SSSC to meet and discuss the operation of the LASWS survey. The group usually meets twice a year.
Up to 2014 the group was known as the LASWS Staffing Group, then it merged with the Mental Health Officer (MHO) Survey Group to become the current DPG. The first meeting of the new group took place on 12th November 2014 (agenda, minutes and papers available below).
Minutes and papers
Below you can download minutes and papers from previous group meetings.
Date | Description | File type | |
---|---|---|---|
4 October 2018 | Agenda and Minutes | Download | |
21 June 2018 | Agenda and Minutes | Download | |
10 November 2017 | Agenda | Download | |
22 June 2017 | Agenda, minutes and papers | Download | |
27 September 2016 | Agenda, minutes and papers | Download | |
10 May 2016 | Agenda and minutes | Download | |
1 October 2015 | Agenda, minutes and papers | Download | |
12 November 2014 | Agenda, minutes and papers | Download | |
24 June 2014 | Agenda, minutes and papers | Download | |
2 October 2013 | Agenda and minutes | Download | |
13 September 2012 | Agenda, minutes and papers | Download | |
3 May 2012 | Agenda, minutes and papers | Download | |
5 October 2011 | Agenda, minutes and papers | Download |
Official Statistics and National Statistics documentation
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) and its governance board the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) identified the need for public bodies that produce statistical information to be seen as authoritative and trusted. The UKSA published a Code of Practice for Statistics (UK Statistics Authority 2009) to outline principles of good practice for statistical products and it is against this code that UKSA assess statistics to ensure their quality.
As a producer of Official Statistics in Scotland the SSSC is encouraged to comply with the Code and must comply with the pre-release access rules set forth in the Pre-release Access to Official Statistics (Scotland) Order 2008. Our 2011 Workforce Data report published in October 2012 was our first Official Statistics publication.
Publications with the National Statistics (NS) kitemark are assessed by the UKSA to ensure they are complying with the Code of Practice (this assessment process is the key difference between OS and NS documents). The report on the MHO Survey was approved as a National Statistics publication when it was undertaken by Scottish Government, and the SSSC took over responsibility for it from December 2012. The UKSA have assessed the SSSC’s MHO publication for compliance with the Code of Practice and the letter of confirmation of National Statistics status can be found here. National Statistics publications must also comply with the Pre-release Access to Official Statistics (Scotland) Order 2008.
To comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics, the SSSC has produced the following documents to set out its practice in relation to quality assuring data, revisions and corrections to publications and confidentiality:
- SSSC Official Statistics Protocol
- SSSC revisions and corrections policy
- Identification of the Needs of Users of Official Statistics and National Statistics
- SSSC Workforce Intelligence Team Statement on Quality
- Statement of administrative sources
- SSSC guide to basic quality assurance in statistics
- SSSC confidentiality declaration
- SSSC data protection policy
- Code of Practice for Official Statistics
- The Pre-release Access to Official Statistics (Scotland) Order 2008
The SSSC also complies with the Regulatory Standard for the Quality Assurance of Administrative Data (QAAD) issued by the UKSA in January 2015. The Standard recognises the increasing role that administrative data is playing in the production of Official Statistics and sets out what the Authority expects producers of Official Statistics to do to assure themselves of the quality of this data. Full details of the Standard are available at:
Below is the technical report produced in 2017 in response to the requirements of the UKSA QAAD Standard covering the administrative data used in our Official and National Statistics reports:
Our role
The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) has responsibility for publishing data and intelligence on the workforce in the social service sector in Scotland. This responsibility was delegated to the SSSC in 2001 by Scottish Ministers under the Regulation of Care Scotland Act 2001.
The social service sector is defined in law (sections 46 to 48 of the Public Service Reform Scotland Act 2010) as consisting of all registered care services and all local authority social work services. Detailed definitions of care services are provided in Schedule 12 of the Act and include:
- adoption services
- adult day care
- care at home
- care homes for adults
- day care of childre
- fostering services
- housing support
- residential child care
- school care accommodation
The aim of our work is to produce data and intelligence on the workforce and the services and employers they work for that supports planning and policy implementation by Government as well as by other national bodies, local commissioners and employers. The broad outline of our role is set out below:
Data collection
The SSSC undertakes one main workforce data collection annually. This is a survey of local authority social work services (LASWS) conducted each December. This gathers data on those working in local authority social work services which are not registered care services, as defined under the Public Service Reform Scotland Act 2010. The LASWS survey includes a special collection of data on people employed as Mental Health Officers (MHOs) within local authorities .
In addition to the LASWS survey the SSSC also has a Data Processing Agreement and a Data Sharing Agreement with the Care Inspectorate (CI) to access the workforce data they gather annually from all registered care services in Scotland. This arrangement avoids the need for the SSSC and CI to both gather data from care services and so reduces the burden on them.
The two collections are underpinned by a common data set (the core minimum data set) to ensure that the data from the two collections can be meaningfully compared.
Publications
The data collected in the LASWS survey is combined with workforce data collected by the Care Inspectorate from all registered care services to create the annual Scottish Social Services Workforce Data report (this is an Official Statistics publication). The data collected in the LASWS survey on MHOs is published as the Mental Health Officer's report (this is a National Statistics publication). Details of our publications in 2023/24 can be found here
Official Statistics and National Statistics
In June 2012 the Scottish Parliament approved a motion to make the SSSC a producer of official statistics. Around the same time the SSSC took over responsibility from Scottish Government for the annual survey and report on Mental Health Officers (MHOs) in Scotland, which is a National Statistics (NS) publication.
Further information on the implications for the SSSC of being an OS and NS producer can be found here.
In addition to the above workforce data publications the SSSC also publish a number of other workforce reports and data sets These include:
An annual detailed data set on services in local authority areas.
An annual Vacancy report produced jointly with the Care Inspectorate
Reports on the uptake of relevant modern apprenticeships, SVQs and HNCs
Annual detailed adults services data
Annual detailed children’s services data
Annual interactive local authority social worker tool
Annually updated MHO time series
There is also a part of the workforce data website where site users can engage with some of the data underpinning the above publications to create their own charts and tables which can be found here.
We also publish quarterly updates on the numbers of registrations on the SSSC register including the proportions with a qualification condition on their registration
Data for other parts of the UK
Historically, social work and other social services in Scotland have not been joined up with social services in other parts of the UK. The footprint and structure of social services differed across all four nations throughout the 20th century and predates the devolution arrangements of the late 1990s.
If you are looking for data on the other three nations of the UK there are a range of bodies that may be able to help you depending on the nature of your query.
England
- Skills for Care publish data on adult social services and you can visit their website here: https://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/Home.aspx
- We understand that the Department for Education in England publishes annual data on social workers in children’s services.
Northern Ireland
- In Northern Ireland social services have been part of the NHS since the early-1970’s and data on the public sector workforce can be found here: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/topics/dhssps-statistics-and-research/workforce-statistics
- The Northern Ireland Social Care Council – also publish data on those social service staff registered with them and can be found here: https://niscc.info/
Wales
- Data on the social service workforce is published by Social Care Wales here: https://socialcare.wales/research-and-data/workforce-reports