Minute

SSSC Fitness to Practise and CCPS Meeting

19 September 2014, 10am

Present: Yvette Burgess - HSEU (Chair), Hugh Hill – Glasgow Simon Community, Caron Duffus - SAMH, Susan Williamson – Barony HA, Sheila Scott – Inclusion Glasgow, Grace Semple – Key Community Lifestyles, Michelle Nairn - Includem, Lynn Cole – Leonard Cheshire, Cheryl Campbell -SSSC, Val Murray -SSSC, Laura Wylie –SSSC , Wendy Wilkie-SSSC (minutes).

  1. Welcome and Introductions

1.1YB gave an introduction and advised the group that this was the first of regular meetings and the proposed purpose of the meetings wasto establish a regular channel for communication between the SSSC and voluntary sector care and support providers, particularly those associated with the CCPS Workforce Development Network. The meetings will also promote provider engagement with the SSSC as it develops and/or reviews its processes and systems. The meetings will focus on issues relating to the registration process and to the SSSC’s requirements associated with fitness to practise.

1.2All attendees then introduced themselves to the rest of the group, and gave a brief overview of concerns they had. These related to:

  • timescales for SSSC processes
  • notification to employers/keeping them informed about cases involving workers
  • functioning of secure e-mail system (concern about ping pong communication)
  • how the SSSC deals with Applicants/Registrants who have convictions / difficult histories (but nevertheless are excellent employees
  • liaison / link up between the SSSC, CI and the police is not always clear to employers
  1. Remit and Arrangements for the meetings

2.1The draft remit was broadly agreedwith some amendment (revised version attached)

2.2YB then thanked SSSC for arranging the first meeting in Dundee. It was agreed that in future meetings were likely to be arranged in different parts of the country and will commence at 10am rather than 10.30am to allow more time for the meeting whilst still concluding around 12.30pm

  1. Registration – introduction and overview – Cheryl Campbell, SSSC

3.1CC presented a PowerPoint about registration, mandatory registration, the different parts of the Register and explained about MySSSC.

3.2CC explained that for the part of the Register for Support Workers in Care Home Services for Adults, we are expecting 23,000 applications.

3.3 A few questions were then raised and answered:

QUESTION / ANSWER
What if support workers in care home services for adults have not applied to registerbefore 30 September 2014? / People may still be registered if they apply late but we cannot give any guarantees. An employer can continue to employ support workers who are not registered until 30 September 2015.
What if support workers in care home services are not registered by September 2015? / Employers would be committing an offence if they continue to employ unregistered workers beyond 30 September 2015 unless there is a reasonable excuse.
What if they are not qualified? / They will have 5 years to achieve the appropriate qualifications.
Will relief and bank staff be required to register? Will these staff require the same qualifications? / Yes all workers carrying out these roles are required to be registered. They will also have 5 years to achieve the qualifications.
Would a member of staff on the Housing Support part of Register, who moved to Care at Home in just over 6 months have to register again? / Yes, if a person is looking to change to a different part of the Register after 6 months, they will have to Register again and pay a new fee. (If a person is on 2 parts of the Register at the same time there would only be one fee).
Can staff apply to register on both the Care at Home and Housing Support parts of the Register together in the same on-line application? / The system developers are working on this – UPDATE – since the meeting this is now possible on the online system.
Is there any chance of a paper back-up for this system? / The online application process is a far better system for applying for registration as applicants can’t miss out sectionsof the form. Applicants using the paper application often omit information and this delays the process. Employers should encourage staff to apply through MySSSC.
Would it be possible to transfer the data from MySSSC into a spreadsheet. Lots of the information shown is very user unfriendly? / MySSSC has been used for one and a half years now and the SSSC are looking to make changes with any recommendations made. Information shown in the employers section of MySSSC can be extracted into an Excel spreadsheet.
What are the arrangements for renewal? / Approximately 2 months prior to the registrant’s renewal date we will invite registrants to renew their registration. This will be emailed where possible or posted out if no email is available. The invoice is posted out.
Where the renewal remains outstanding approximately14 days prior to the renewal date we will send a reminder to the registrant by post.
Once the reminder has been sent employers will be able to view any employees who have yet to renew through their employer’s access on MySSSC.
Where an email or mobile number is available an email/text will be sent to the registrant on their renewal date if the renewal remains outstanding.
Approximately 21 days after the renewal date if the person has failed to renew by not submitting a renewal application/or paying the fee they will be lapsed.
If we have not received a renewal application form we are not required to issue a Notice of Decision.
Employers can view lapsed registrants through MySSSC.
If qualifications are not achieved in time is there any leeway? / Each case is assessed individually, we always look at how much has been done and how much the employer is supporting the worker – some allowances can be made.
  1. Laura Wylie presented a PowerPointgiving an overview of work within the Fitness to Practise Department; she then clarified the following points:

4.1At present the Fitness to Practise Department have over 2000 cases (out of a total of 70,625 registrants).

4.2When a Registrant’s case is concluded whether we take any action or not, the SSSC will now let the employers know as well as the Registrant – detailing the reasons for any decisions in the outcome letter.

4.3The decisions of the Registration and Conduct Sub-committeescan be appealed at the Sheriff Court by Applicants/Registrants.

4.4Non-registered Workers – the SSSC want to know if non-registered workers are dismissed or have resigned/left in circumstances where dismissal would have been considered. Further information on this is available on the SSSC’s website – Guidance for Employers.

Further questions were raised and answered

What if an employee leaves and a confidential settlement agreement is made with the employer? / If compromise agreements are in force the employer still has to be aware of their responsibilities under the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001. For public protection, agreements shouldn’t be made that might arguably prevent an employer/former employer reporting an individual to theSSSC where they have a duty to do so. Employers should seek legal advice.
What if an employer investigation is finished and no action is taken? / The SSSC will continue to investigate and make it’s own outcome decision.
Some employers have been referring non-reg workers who have been dismissed for misconduct – is this correct? / Continue to do so, that is the correct procedure. There is a new employer referral form on the SSSC website.
Employer has a duty to refer to Disclosure Scotland in certain situations, although some employers are not doing so when they should. Does SSSC refer cases to PVG? / Yes, but we may only do so if an employer has not. Disclosure Scotland are aware of this issue and intend to take action against employers who fail to refer.
A question was raised as to whether PVG information can be kept on files as the PVG arrangements are different to those for enhanced disclosure certificates. / Grace Semple undertook to circulate guidance material to the group, which was to the effect that there was not the same requirement to destroy PVG certificates after the recruitment decision is made.
There was a discussion about theSub-committee hearing process and the information provided to Applicants/Registrants.What happens if someone needs legal representation? / The individual can use Unions, lawyers or another representative, the latter only if agreed by the chair of the Sub-committee.A detailed leaflet is given to all Applicants/Registrants attending a Sub-committee hearing which explains the process. A copy will be sent to group members. We are happy to work with the group on improvements to these documents.
Are all hearings in Dundee? / Generally, yes as the Scottish Government paid for a suite of rooms within our Dundee office. Only on rare occasions would hearings be held outside Dundee.

4.5LW advised the group that the SSSC website changes on the 30 September, at the moment all information regarding Fitness to Practise is under the tab “Protecting the Public”

4.6LW informed the group that the SSSC and the Sub-committees use an Indicative Sanctions Guidance which is what decisions are based on, and helps people understand them.

4.7Our processes have recently changed and we now contact employers as well as the Registrant when we receive a complaint.

5.The final presentation was presented by Val Murray, detailing Performance and Planned Activity for the Fitness to Practise Department, which included:

  • plans to use casework information to develop practice guidance for managers
  • adopting a fitness to practices regime for casework
  • a project to review the SSSC’s approach to regulation to ensure that it was proportionate and appropriate.

There were plans to involve stakeholders in this work and CCPS members had been invited to take part.

6.AOCB – Yvette finished the meeting by thanking everyone for attending. It was agreed it would also be useful to invite other relevant people to future meetings depending on the topic being discussed. i.e. Disclosure Scotland, Care Inspectorate.

7.Date of next meeting -Friday 23rd January 10am – 12.30pm at Key Community Supports, The Square, 70 Renton Street, Glasgow G4 0HT