Employers have a responsibility to ensure that their social care staff are suitable to enter the workforce, are registered with the Social Care Council and maintain their registration including Post Registration Training and Learning (PRTL) requirements.
Go to Employers responsibilities – NISCC to learn more.
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Standards of Conduct and Practice for Employers
The Standards of Conduct and Practice for Employers have been jointly developed by the Social Care Council and the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) in consultation with employers across the sector.
To meet their responsibilities in relation to regulating the social work and social care workforce, employers must:
- Inform registrants about the Social Care Council Standards of Conduct and Practice and their personal responsibility to meet those standards.
- Provide appropriate induction training and on-going learning and development opportunities to help registrants do their job effectively and prepare for any new and changing roles and responsibilities.
- Provide effective, regular supervision to registrants to enable them to develop and improve through reflective practice.
- Contribute to the provision of social care education and training, including effective workplace assessment and practice learning.
- Supporte registrants to meet the Social Care Councils eligibility criteria for registration and its requirements for post registration training and learning.
- Respond appropriately to registrants who seek assistance because they do not feel able or adequately prepared to carry out any aspect of their work.
- Support and enable registrants to take responsibility for quality improvement and safety in line with their job role.
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Partnership Working
The Social Care Council works in partnership with social care and social work employers, subject matter experts, service users and carers, key stakeholders such as; DOH, RQIA and PHA but most importantly we work with the target user – social care and social work registrants including managers.
This supports us to engage widely across the sector to deliver on:
- The implementation of the Care in Practice (CiP) Framework – Strategic Priority 3 of the DoH Social Care Workforce Strategy 2025-2035 which states that – social care practitioners will have access to qualifications and opportunities to develop and progress through on-going learning relevant to their role and function.
- The review of qualifications and National Occupational Standards.
- Development of learning resources that include authentic real-world scenarios and reflective learning activities based on practice issues that are of concern and lead to poor practice.
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Learning Zone Digital Resources
The Social Care Council has developed a wide range of digital learning resources and guides to support social care practitioners and managers continuous professional learning and development and supplement the training provided by employers.
These resources are available from Learning Resources.
The Learning Zone resources do not replace the employer’s responsibility to ensure workers are provided with comprehensive training that enables them to deliver safe, effective care and support to meet the training requirements within their roles and settings.
Reflective learning questions are built into all of the Social Care Council learning resources and can be used to share and evidence continuous professional learning including registrants Post Registration Training and Learning requirements.
Employers are more than welcome to use and promote the Social Care Council’s resources and guides within their workplaces:
- to support a continuous learning and development culture which has standards and values at its core and
- encourage employees to become self-regulated learners.
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More Information
Click on the tiles below to access digital guides for PRTL and Values Based Recruitment.
See Associated Resources for quick access to key guidance documents and forms.
Go to Career Guidance, Social Care Qualifications, and Registration for more information.