Become a social care worker

Social care is a rewarding and challenging career. For all sorts of reasons and at all stages in their lives people need help coping with the day-to-day business of living. Social care workers provide this support.

There is a huge range of jobs in social care available, which include:

• Domiciliary or day care;
• Residential care for children, adults or older people;
• Independent living for disabled people.

There are two sector skills councils for social care, and you can contact them for more information. Skills for Care deal with social care for adults and older people, while the Children's Workforce Development Council covers social care for children and young people, their families and carers.

Social care workers can also undertake national vocational qualifications in social care. These courses are not accredited by the GSCC, but by a range of awarding bodies, including:

City and Guilds - Care, health and community
Tel. 020 7294 8007
www.city-and-guilds.co.uk

CACHE
Tel. 01727 847636
www.cache.org.uk

Edexcel
Tel. 0870 240 9800
www.edexcel.org.uk

The Open University (Faculty of Health and Social Care)
Tel. 0870 900 0310
www.open.ac.uk/hsc

You can also get some more information about how to become a social care worker at the Department of Health's social care recruitment site, www.socialcarecareers.co.uk or by calling 0845 604 6404.