This is UNISON’s response to the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) consultation on proposed changes to registration and qualifications.
While the consultation focuses on some very specific reforms, these measures cannot be extracted from the wider context of regulated work, particularly in social care, childcare and early years.
Many of the services regulated by the SSSC face either challenge or crisis. Many are low paid and attempts to build service quality are hindered by staff turnover driven by poor job quality and unfair working conditions.
Scotland needs greater fairness in the registration of regulated jobs and we desperately need greater investment in the fair work, job quality and career development capacity of regulated work. Without greater investment in service quality and job quality, the well-intentioned reforms under consultation will have a marginal effect on the challenge and crisis faced by regulated occupations.