General Social Care Council

Regulating social work education

The GSCC regulates and promotes high quality standards in social work education.  We do this by making sure that all universities offering qualifying courses and post qualifying social work courses are approved against a range of criteria and that individual courses continue meet requirements set by government.

The GSCC has a risk focussed approach to regulating social work education.  Courses are approved against Department of Health and GSCC requirements and risk assessed using the risk management framework (link here). 

Risk management framework

The management of risk is embedded in our document: "Risk management and regulation of social work education (revised March 2011) ".  Our approach to risk is underpinned by the principles in International Standard ISO 31000:2009 - Risk management: Principles and Guidelines.  In line with ISO 31000 we define risk as the “effect of uncertainty on objectives”.

We make decisions based on the outcomes of risk analysis, about which risks need regulatory intervention and the level and priority of that intervention.  We use a consequence/probability matrix to determine what risks to a social work education course are acceptable and unacceptable and the likelihood of consequences occurring.

A score for each risk is determined by multiplying the likelihood score by the consequence score.  Acceptable risks generate a green traffic light, medium risks an amber traffic light and unacceptable risks a red traffic light. 

The regulatory cycle

We practise monitoring as a continuous iterative cycle and not as a one-off annual event.  An important component of our continuous monitoring of social work education is the receipt of annual reports from universities confirming that their own quality assurance processes, which have been approved by the GSCC, have ensured that the courses continue to meet the requirements and criteria.

In addition to information provided by universities in relation to course approval and monitoring, other institution specific information will be drawn from a range of sources including (but not exclusively) other regulators reports, QAA audits, stakeholder feedback, EE feedback and audits specifically relation to complaints. 

All information received in relation to approved social work courses is analysed and risk assessed to provide intelligence for the monitoring and approval of social work courses.