Social care staff entry costs

In this guide

• overview
• eligibility
• how to apply: PVG checks
• how to apply: SSSC registration
• scheme background

Overview

If you are starting a new job in the social care sector you may be eligible to have your entry costs paid if you apply by 25 June 2022.

To help encourage more staff into the profession we will cover the cost of the following for people in eligible roles:

• PVG checks
• first-time registration fees for the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) if the role is regulated by the SSSC

Basic PVG checks usually costs £59. SSSC registration costs between £25 and £80 depending on the role.

Eligibility

To qualify you must:

• have started a new job or taken up a new position with your existing employer in an eligible role (see below), AND
• have applied for the above checks/registration between 14 January and no later than 25 June 2022 - any applications outside these dates will not be eligible

In all other cases, for example if your employer has a policy of periodically re-checking staff, you will need to pay these costs as normal if you have not moved roles.

SSSC fees

SSSC fees will only be paid for new applicants registering for the first time. The scheme will not cover the cost of annual or renewal fees for people already registered.

If you started working in an eligible social care role before 14 January 2022, but have not yet registered with the SSSC, you can do so for free as long as you do this by 25 June 2022.

Eligible roles

To be eligible you must be working in a new role of:

• manager
• supervisor
• practitioner, or
• support worker

AND be working in one of the following areas:

Adult services

• care homes
• care at home services
• housing support
• day care services

Children’s services

• residential childcare
• residential school care accommodation

Justice services

• offender accommodation

Eligible roles for personal assistants

• any personal assistants directly paid by their employer who receives their funding via self-directed support option 1 and/or Independent Living Fund Scotland

We are focusing on specific frontline roles where we know that financial barriers to entry may exist. Early learning and childcare (ELC) is not included in the scheme.

How to apply: PVG checks

If your role is eligible, you should apply for PVG through the Disclosure Scotland website.

When you come to the ‘position applied for’ field, you should type in “FSC” followed by the name of your position. Disclosure Scotland will use this to identify PVG applications that you will not be charged for and to prioritise your application. 

When prompted to enter a payment method, you should select ‘invoice’ to ensure that you will not be charged, even if your employer usually asks their employees to pay for their own PVG checks via card payment.

Personal assistants who work for an organisation

If you are a personal assistant working for an organisation should follow the above process when applying for PVG.

Personal assistants paid directly by an individual

If you are a personal assistant paid directly by an individual, you should fill out the right PVG form from the Disclosure Scotland website and send this by email. You can also request a paper form from Disclosure Scotland if you need to.

In the ‘payment’ section of the email form and the ‘card number’ field if using the paper form, rather than making a card payment, you should enter the text ‘FSC’ in the field ‘9 digit payment reference number’.

Disclosure Scotland will use this text to identify PVG applications that you will not be charged for and to prioritise your application. 

All applications should be made by 25 June 2022.

How to apply: SSSC registration

You should apply as normal, which your employer should be able to advise you on.

For more information see the SSSC website. Eligible applicants who register with SSSC will be identified when registering for eligible roles and will have no fee to pay.

All applications should be made by 25 June 2022.

Background to the scheme

The scheme has been introduced on a time-limited trial basis, to help:

• encourage more staff into the profession, by removing some of the financial barriers to entry
• address winter staffing pressures as set out in our winter preparedness plan

It has been introduced following discussions with COSLA and will cover roles in local authority, private and third sectors.