Lynne Berry, Chief Executive of the General Social Care Council (GSCC) has been awarded the Social Care Association Merit Award for her work towards achieving a fully registered social care workforce.
Presented at the Social Care Association’s (SCA) annual seminar, the award recognises an individual who in the opinion of the judging panel, has advanced the cause of social care services.
The SCA has been an advocate for a social care council for more than twenty years and was heavily involved in the campaign to establish the GSCC.
On choosing Ms Berry as the sixteenth recipient of the award, the judges commented:
“Lynne Berry’s personal commitment to the achievement of a register that includes all social care workers has given reassurance to those committed to good practice and the protection of the public. In awarding the Social Care Merit Award to Lynne Berry, the judges wanted it to be seen as a symbol of their support for her efforts and the encouragement of the association in the sizeable job ahead of her.”
SCA Chief Executive, Nick Johnson said:
“I was really pleased when the judges chose Lynne, not only for her current work but her long term commitment to service users and social justice. In my view, this recognition was well overdue.”
Lynne said:
“I am deeply honoured to receive this award. I know what a superb contribution social care workers make to society and to the lives of millions of people.”
Lynne added:
"Being registered demonstrates each individual's commitment to holding and maintaining high standards in their own work. It's also an acknowledgement of the need to assure service users and the public that their interests will be protected. The GSCC started by registering social workers and now we're preparing to register everyone else. The next groups will be people working with children or adults in residential and domiciliary care. I do believe passionately that registration will be good for service users, the public, social care workers and employers
It is only with the support of organisations such as SCA that registration has been able to progress so far. I thank them for this award. GSCC colleagues and I look forward to working closely with SCA during this very exciting period for social care.”
The SCA Merit Award is presented along with the Kathleen Lewis Memorial Award to a SCA member. This year the award went to Margaret Graham, of Barnardos in Scotland.