This report is published by the SSSC as part of our duties under the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001.The data provides a comprehensive picture of the sector’s workforce at the end of 2011.

One source of data is the annual returns collected by the Care Inspectorate. The second source is the annual census of local authority social work staff, previously undertaken by the Scottish Government but now undertaken by the SSSC. As part of the transition to the SSSC changes were made to the scope and timing of the census to eliminate overlap with the Care Inspectorate annual returns and to ensure both data sets are collected at the same time. Both data collections are underpinned by the core minimum data set (CMDS) which the SSSC is in the process of revising for future data collections.

We produce the Workforce Data report supported by the Scottish Social Services Workforce Data Group (SSSWDG) which provides advice on the reporting and publication of the sector’s workforce data. The SSSWDG includes representatives from Scottish Government, the Care Inspectorate, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), the Association of Directors of Social Work, and care providers from the private and voluntary sectors.

In June 2012 the SSSC was approved as an Official Statistics producer and this report is regarded as an Official Statistics publication for the first time.

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