We appointed 38 new panel members during 2024, to replace panel members whose terms were coming to an end or who retired. We have a thorough and transparent selection process for panel members to ensure panel decisions are fair and independent.
Panel members
Fitness to Practise Panels normally have three members.
- A Legally Qualified Chair (LQC), who is a qualified solicitor or advocate and the person who leads the hearing.
- A social service member, someone who has experience of working in social services and is registered with us.
- A lay member, someone who is not or has not, been involved in social service work for more than five years.
Recruitment and appointment of panel members
Our Head of Regulatory Improvement and Hearings is responsible for recruiting panel members. We advertise positions publicly and interviewers include someone who doesn’t work at the SSSC.
The Head of Regulatory Improvement and Hearings recommends appointments to the SSSC’s Council, which governs our work. Council Members consider the recommendations and appoint people as panel members.
We appoint panel members for three years and can re-appoint them for up to a further four years, meaning they can serve for a maximum of seven years.
Selection criteria
Several key criteria guide the selection of panel members to make sure panels are made up of people with the necessary skills, experience and integrity.
- Professional background: Social service members are required to be registered with us. This ensures they have a deep understanding of the sector and the challenges faced by social service workers.
- Experience: Candidates with significant experience in their respective fields are preferred. This experience can come from various roles within and outside the social service profession, including management, direct service provision or regulatory positions.
- Impartiality and integrity: It is crucial that panel members can demonstrate impartiality and integrity. They must be able to make unbiased decisions based on the evidence presented to them.
- Commitment to public service: A strong commitment to public service and the values of the SSSC is essential. Panel members must be dedicated to upholding the standards of the profession and protecting the public interest.
Training and development
Once selected, panel members undertake comprehensive training to prepare them for their role. This covers various aspects of their responsibilities, including understanding the SSSC's regulatory framework, decision making processes and the principles of fairness and impartiality.
Panel member training on how to make decisions is delivered by people that don’t work at the SSSC.
There is also a quality assurance process which involves experienced panel members reviewing the performance of other panel members in hearings and in relation to the quality of written decisions, to provide feedback.
Independence of panel members
Panel members are not employees of the SSSC. They are independent of the SSSC and:
- do not share offices with the SSSC and only attend the SSSC’s office for hearings or training/support sessions
- have no direct contact with the Fitness to Practise Department
- do not have access to the SSSC’s computer system or IT network
- only have information about a case which the SSSC and the worker have given to them.
Decisions made by panels
Where a registered worker, a worker applying to be registered with the SSSC or a worker applying to be restored to the SSSC’s Register has been referred to a panel, the panel will:
- make findings of fact in relation to an allegation (or allegations)
- where findings of fact have been made, decide whether a worker’s fitness to practise is impaired, at the date of the panel’s decision
- in a case involving a registered worker, decide what sanction, if any, should be imposed on the worker’s registration
- in a case involving a worker applying to be registered or restored to the Register, decide whether the worker should be registered or restored unconditionally, with conditions, or that their application should be refused.
When the SSSC thinks that a Temporary Order should be imposed, extended, varied or revoked in relation to a worker’s registration, it can refer the case to a panel to decide.