Training for all staff irrespective of how they were recruited, locally or internationally, is essential to ensuring you have a skilled and confident workforce, who are empowered to undertake their role to the highest standard. This includes ensuring you support your care workers to register with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) within the first 3 months of employment, and continually support them to complete their qualification and undertake additional CPD. Internally, having robust induction and onboarding processes will support your employees to thrive within their role, and also build confidence and satisfaction which can potentially lead to retention.
Getting started. A robust induction is imperative for all staff starting within your organisation to ensure they have the right knowledge, behaviours and competencies to do their job to the best possible standard. For refugees and asylum seekers, this should involve equipping them with the right knowledge and information required to facilitate a seamless transition into work. Ample time (2-3 weeks) should be given to allow the new staff to learn about the organisation’s ways of working, and to read company policies and procedures which support effective working and service delivery.
The SSSC have developed a National Induction Framework to support induction for adult social care across Scotland. It is intended to complement the induction and Continuous Professional Learning (CPL) provided by employers. It supports workers, together with their employers, to identify what knowledge and guidance they need to be equipped and confident to safely provide person centred support to people in their new role.
Registration. If registration is required to work within your organisation (usually because your organisation is registered with the Care Inspectorate) you must signpost and support newly recruited employees to register with the SSSC. Information on this process can be found at the SSSC’s Who can register?
Qualifications. A Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) is an occupational qualification obtained whilst working and is aimed at helping individuals work effectively and confidently. It consists of core and mandatory training which helps to maintain training standards. Where applicable, when facilitating registration organisations should ensure employees understand what SVQ is necessary and how to obtain it. More information can be found at:
CPD is relevant in assisting the candidate develop a career within their world of work. Knowing that there are good opportunities to develop within the role, and to progress to other roles, can be a key factor in retaining a worker within an organisation. Early commitment by managers, and collaborative working with newly employed staff members, will ensure clarity of purpose and motivation in fulfilling employment and career goals. More information on CPD for care workers and the organisations that employ them can be found at the SSSC’s Careers in social care.
Ensuring your employees can continually learn within their role is important. Skills for life such as functional skills should be a core element of this learning. More information on functional skills can be found at Health Education England’s Skills for life.
Many care roles, particularly with a Care at Home employer, require an individual to have a valid UK driving licence. The rules concerning the use of an overseas driving licence, and the ability to exchange it for a UK driving licence, do vary depending upon which country has issued the original licence.
Here are some of the rules, but for full details and to check individual circumstances go to the UK.Gov site ‘Driving in Great Britain on a non-GB licence’.
The ability to drive company vehicles is a requirement for many roles, so where this is the case, it will need to be factored into any recruitment plan. Some flexibility will need to be adopted, for example the individual could pair up with a qualified driver until they are able to drive on their own. Another option could be to employ the individual in a care home, without the need to travel, gaining experience until they are able to drive. Alternatively, perhaps some rearrangement of routes could allow a care worker to walk, cycle or take public transport between visits.