Regulation of the out of school care workforce

Out of school care services are registered with and regulated by the Care Inspectorate; all employees within out of school care services are recognised as social care workers and as such they must register with the Scottish Social Services Council.

Workers are required to have a designated qualification appropriate to the job level, if they do not have this, then registration will be granted on the condition that the qualification is achieved within 5 years.

From 3 June 2024, new workers have three months to apply for registration and must be registered within six months.

Once registered workers are expected to undertake annual Post Registration Training and Learning (PRTL).

SSSC Codes of Practice

The SSSC has codes of practice which should be adhered to by employers and employees- for information on these codes, please follow the link below:

SSSC Codes of Practice can be found here:

http://www.sssc.uk.com/about-the-sssc/codes-of-practice/what-are-the-codes-of-practice

Lead Practitioner Registration/Qualification Requirements

The Lead Practitioner is the manager of the service, and probably also the named contact registered with the Care Inspectorate. The SSSC define managers/lead practitioners in the following way:

“Managers/lead practitioners in day care of children services are defined as workers who hold responsibilities for the overall development, management and quality assurance of service provision including supervision of staff and the management of resources; this is usually the person who is the named manager with the Care Inspectorate.”

Since 1 December 2011, when registering or re-registering with the SSSC, Lead Practitioners should be qualified to, or working towards qualification at, a Level 9 qualification in Childhood Practice: this could be a BA in Childhood Practice, Post Graduate Diploma in Childhood Practice or the SQA Professional Development Award (Level 9) in Childhood Practice. This is a degree level qualification.

Further information on Lead Practitioner qualification requirements:

information for managers

Further information on the Childhood Practice Award:

Childhood Practice Award

The Standard for Childhood Practice:

Standard for Childhood Practice

Practitioner Registration/Qualification Requirements

Practitioner must be registered with the SSSC and are defined as:

“workers who identify and meet the care, support and learning needs of children and contribute to the development and quality assurance of informal learning activities and/or curriculum. They may also be responsible for the supervision of other workers.”

Practitioner qualification requirements:

information for practitioners

Support Worker Registration/Qualification Requirements

Support workers in out of school care will mostly and at least, be qualified to SVQ2. Further information on qualification requirements for support workers:

information for support workers