The GSCC currently has 9 Council members. As of 31 January 2005, the Appointments' Commission appoints the GSCC's Council members on behalf of the Secretary of State for Health.

The General Social Care Council has a majority of lay members who have experience across the spectrum of social care, whether as service users, carers, or service providers from the public, private or voluntary sectors. By law, the Chair of the Council must be lay. The Council determines the strategic direction of the General Social Care Council.

Our Council Members:

Lay Members

Rosie Varley - Chair

Chair: Rosie Varley OBE took up the role of GSCC Chair on November 2008. She is also Chair of the Public Guardian Board, Chair of Skills for Health Eastern Region and a member of The NMC Appointments Board and of the Mental Health and Disability Living Allowance tribunals. She was Chairman of the General Optical Council until the end of December 2008 and continued on its board until 31 March 2009 as a lay member. She was Acting Chair of the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE - which oversees all health regulatory bodies) until December 2008. During 2008-09 Rosie chaired a DH working group on the governance arrangements for the new General Pharmaceutical Council. She has been an Appointments Commissioner, an NHS regional chairman, and an NHS trust chairman. Rosie is also a governor of the Priory School for children with special needs in Bury St Edmunds, and President of West Suffolk MIND.

Haqeeq Bostan is a lawyer by training but now works as an independent consultant with an interest in equality and discrimination issues. He has advised a number of public authorities (such as TfL and the Crown Prosecution Service) on matters concerning disability and equalities. He is a non-executive director of Southwark PCT, chair of the London Black Disability Forum and a director of Independent Living Alternatives.

Vice-Chair: Melanie Henwood OBE is a self-employed independent Health and Social Care Consultant. She is a specialist adviser to the Health Select Committee, and Chair of the Advisory Group on Independent Living to the MS Society. Ms Henwood has held Visiting Fellowships with the London School of Economics, the University of Leeds and the University of New South Wales, Australia. Melanie has more than 25 years experience in research and analysis, focusing particularly on the interface between health and care, and most recently on the emerging personalisation agenda. Before establishing her own consultancy in 1991, she held research posts at the King's Fund, the Family Policy Studies Centre, and the University of Bath.

John Knight is Assistant Director of Policy and Campaigns at Leonard Cheshire Disability and was a mainspring in forming the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group of which he was convenor. He is a JP, a member of the Cabinet Office’s Third Sector Advisory Board and is a former trustee of NCVO. Mr Knight has two other Ministerial appointments, one as a Commissioner with the Commission for Social Care Inspection and one on the DWP Management Board of the Office for Disability Issues. John uses social care services.

Harry Marsh MBE is an independent consultant in the voluntary and charitable trust sectors specialising in children, families and disability. He is a former trustee and Vice Chair of the National Children’s Bureau and also a member and former Chair of the Council for Disabled Children. He was appointed to the Board of the Children and Families Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) in 2004 and is lead member on diversity and a member of the CAFCASS Audit Committee. From 1988 to 2000 Harry served as Chief Executive of Contact a Family, a national charity supporting parents caring for disabled children, and prior to that was Assistant Director at Family Service Units. He was Vice-Chair of the General Social Care Council from 2001 to 2003 and has chaired the Audit Committee since 2002.

David Prince CBE is the former chief executive of The Standards Board for England, the regulatory body that champions and ensures high standards of conduct in local authorities. He held senior positions at the Audit Commission, as managing director, strategy and resources and Chief Executive, District Audit. Most of his career was in local government, where posts included Chief Executive, Leicestershire County Council and director of finance and administration, Cambridgeshire County Council. Non-executive independent appointments include Leicestershire Police Authority, the audit committee of the Rural Payments Agency and the performance and best value committee of the Bar Standards Board.

Non-Lay Members

Terry Butler CBE is an independent advisor in public services and social care. He is a Registered Social Worker and was Hampshire County Council's Director of Social Services until August 2005. He joined Hampshire in 1988 from East Sussex County Council, where he was Deputy Director of Social Services, having previously worked for several social services departments in London and the Midlands. Nationally, he has acted as a Government advisor and was seconded to the Department of Health to help implement the community care reforms in the early 1990s. He was an advisor on social care to the National Patient Safety Agency until 2007 and is now an advisor to Nestor Health Care. Terry is also a member of the Information Tribunal, Patron of the Relatives and Residents Association, a non-executive director of the South Central Strategic Health Authority and an international tour leader for Jon Baines Tours.

Bill McClimont has worked in health and social care for 19 years. He now works as non-executive Chairman of Active Assistance, a specialist provider of live-in care for people with spinal injury. Bill acts as Chair in selection panels for the Judicial Appointments Commission and is also a member of the CRB health and social care sub-group. Now Vice Chair of the UK Home Care Association, Bill previously served them as Chair, Hon Sec. and Vice-President. He was a founding board member/trustee of TOPSS and then of Skills for Care until 2007. For several years, he was also Chair of the nursing and social care division at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation.

Hilary Tompsett is Head of the School of Social Work at Kingston University and St. George’s, University of London, and Chair of the Learning and Teaching Committee of the Joint University Council Social Work Education Committee (JUC SWEC). She is Chair of the Surrey and Sussex Post Qualifying Consortium Assessment Board and Chair of the Social Work Education Group for the two counties and has been chair and a member of a number of national working groups. She is a registered social worker.