General Social Care Council
Protecting the public by requiring high standards of professional education, conduct and practice of all social workers
Education and training
Concerns
Concerns about the quality of a social work degree or post qualifying courses.
We welcome queries from students, employers, practice educators, lecturers, service users and carers where they have concerns about the quality of an approved social work degree course or post qualifying course.
Social work degree courses are approved and monitored by the GSCC to ensure that they meet the requirements currently set by the Department of Health and the GSCC. If you have a query or concern about a social work degree course you should first raise it with the university, for example through student representation/committees, people who use services and carer groups, management boards, or other mechanisms that should be published by the university. This is normally the most effective way for such concerns to be addressed and allows the university the opportunity to respond directly to concerns you may wish to raise. If this is not effective, or you feel that GSCC approval requirements may still be at risk, please contact the GSCC on 01788 532400 or by email . An inspector will consider the information you have sent. They will then decide whether approval requirements may be at risk and what actions we need to take to reduce the risk.
Post qualifying courses are approved and monitored by the GSCC according to requirements agreed both generically (for all courses) and for each specialism. If you have a query or concern about a PQ course you should follow the same procedures as described above.
We will treat information sensitively and generally will not disclose details of those who make referrals to us. However, investigating issues of concern can make obvious the source of concerns and we cannot promise to protect confidentiality if it compromises actions we need to take as a regulator.
Student concerns about academic, practice or suitability decisions
If you are a student and have a query or concern about a decision on your competence, either academically or in practice, or a decision about your suitability to be a social worker, please access the university’s formal complaints or appeals procedures. It is the university’s responsibility to make sure that only people who are competent and suitable enter the profession.
The GSCC has no remit to overturn assessment decisions made by a university. We are responsible for making sure that approved courses meet GSCC and Department of Health (DH) requirements and that systems are in place to enable students to “attain the required standards of proficiency in relevant social work”, or improve their practice after qualification as described above.
It is important to note that we monitor the quality of approved courses and information you provide will be considered in this context. We are unable to advocate on behalf of an individual.
Once you have been through the University’s own procedures you may want to contact:
The Office of the Independent Adjudicator (telephone helpline 0118 959 9813), which adjudicates concerns from students about their education.
Concerns about the conduct of a registered social worker
If you have a concern about the conduct of a registered social worker, please contact the GSCC Conduct team on 01788 532405 or by email.
Concern about a member of GSCC staff or about the way in which we provide our service
If you have a concern about a member of GSCC staff or the way in which we provide our services, please contact the Complaints and Representations team on 0845 070 0630 or by email.
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katherine richardson
7 Dec 2011 at 2:58pm
I also have had extreme difficulty in finding a social work position due to not having the two years required experience. How are we able to get over this hurdle.