Scottish Social Services Workforce Data
Registration data
This page provides information on the numbers of people registered with the SSSC.
Background
One of the SSSC’s statutory duties is to keep a Register of social service workers, social workers and social work students in Scotland. Registration began in 2003 with social workers and has gradually been rolled out across the sector so that it now covers the majority of those working in care services. There are over 20 separate categories on the register and there are over 120,000 individuals registered. In most cases, people are registered according to the job they are doing (e.g. manager of a residential child care service).
Registration is for staff who work directly with people who use social services. Nurses, teachers and other professional groups working in a registered care or social work service are not required to register with the SSSC if they have a current registration with their own professional body. There are thought to be approximately 10,000 such staff working in the sector (or 5% of the total workforce). In addition staff working in ancillary or auxiliary roles (e.g. business support, cleaning, IT etc.) do not register.
This means that the coverage of the sector’s workforce is slightly smaller than in the annual workforce data report. However, unlike the workforce data gathered by the SSSC, which is a snapshot collected each December, registration data is updated daily by registrants and SSSC staff to reflect each registrant’s current circumstances.
Registration is qualification-based, however, in most categories individuals can register before achieving the necessary award. In these cases, they are given a qualification condition which means that they must achieve the qualification within a specified period (usually five years). The information available from this page will provide quarterly snapshots from March 2019 onwards, of the number of people registered with the SSSC by their category of registration. It will also indicate how many of the registrants have a qualification condition.
It should be noted that the process of rolling out registration to the whole of the social service sector is still ongoing. In most cases staff working in care services are required to be registered with the SSSC (or another regulatory body for example the Nursing and Midwifery Council) in order to be employed in a care service. However, there are still parts of the sector where registration is not yet compulsory. Details of whether registration is compulsory for registration categories is provided along with the data.
Early Learning and Childcare
In addition to the overall registration data published above. We have also been asked to provide more detailed data on the Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) workforce to support the expansion of early learning and childcare services in 2020. The ELC workforce are a subset of the Day Care of Children (DCC) workforce and provide publicly funded services to pre-school children. The data was extracted from the SSSC Register on 21.3.19
Current snapshot
The data in this table is a snapshot accurate to 25 March 2019.
| PART OF THE REGISTER | DATE REQUIRED REGISTRATION COMMENCED | SSSC REGISTRANTS | REGISTRANTS WITH A QUALIFICATION CONDITION | PERCENTAGE WITH A QUALIFICATION CONDITION (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social Workers | Sep-2005 | 10,636 | Not applicable | 0.0 |
| Students | May-2004 | 1,897 | Not applicable | 0.0 |
| SCSWIS Authorised Officers | Mar-2010 | 283 | 116 | 41.0 |
| Managers of Residential Child Care Services | Sep-2009 | 409 | 125 | 30.6 |
| Residential Child Care Workers with Supervisory responsibility | Sep-2009 | 846 | 284 | 33.6 |
| All other Residential Child Care Workers | Sep-2009 | 6,525 | 2,924 | 44.8 |
| Managers of Adult Day Care Services | Nov-2009 | 392 | 108 | 27.6 |
| Managers of Care home Services for Adults | Nov-2009 | 701 | 277 | 39.5 |
| Supervisors of Care Home Service for Adults | Mar-2012 | 3,901 | 2,152 | 55.2 |
| Practitioners of Care Home Service for Adults | Mar-2013 | 5,637 | 2,166 | 38.4 |
| Support Workers of Care Home Service for Adults | Sep-2015 | 31,309 | 20,351 | 65.0 |
| Managers of Day Care of Children Services | Nov-2010 | 2,597 | 1,569 | 60.4 |
| Practitioners in Day Care of Children Services | Sep-2011 | 26,310 | 4,696 | 17.8 |
| Support workers of Day Care of Children Services | Jun-2014 | 7,287 | 4,151 | 57.0 |
| Managers of a Residential School Care Accommodation | Nov-2012 | 11 | 3 | 27.3 |
| Supervisors of a Residential School Care Accommodation | Apr-2013 | 23 | 4 | 17.4 |
| Workers of a Residential School Care Accommodation | Nov-2013 | 318 | 112 | 35.2 |
| Managers of a Housing Support Service | Jan-2014 | 1,473 | 593 | 40.3 |
| Supervisors of a Housing Support Service | Jun-2017 | 3,851 | 2,238 | 58.1 |
| Workers in a Housing Support Service | Sep-2020 | 23,257 | 13,955 | 60.0 |
| Managers of a Care at Home Service | Jan-2014 | 1,337 | 603 | 45.1 |
| Supervisors of a Care at Home Service | Jun-2017 | 3,882 | 2,348 | 60.5 |
| Workers of a Care at Home Service | Sep-2020 | 25,946 | 16,556 | 63.8 |
| Total Figures | 158,828 | 75,331 | 47.4 |
Please note that an individual may appear on more than one part of the register. The total number of unique individuals is 127,931.
The next snapshot will be published at the end of June 2019.
Downloads
You can download the current and past register snapshots in either Microsoft Excel or Open Document Spreadsheet format here.
25 March 2019
You can download the Early Learning and Childcare detailed data here.
