Allison is a social care worker providing care at home and housing support services in the Glasgow area. Her career in care started as a natural progression after being an unpaid carer for family members. Allison has a hearing impairment and was anxious it would stand in her way when completing her SVQ. Today she shares her experience.  

John is a Senior (Lead) External Verifier in Care and Childcare at the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and explains the role of verifiers and why planning for your SVQ is so important. He also explains how an SVQ can help you reflect on how you do your day-to-day role.

Working in social services involves a wide range of skills, knowledge and values that are essential to your SVQ qualifications. Every interaction with individuals you support is an opportunity to demonstrate this.

We understand the challenges you face in gaining your qualifications for registration and we are here to support you. It can be daunting thinking about what’s involved and how you will evidence your learning.

SSSC Learning and Development Adviser, Jane Muir shares her top tips to help you prepare for your SVQ. Jane joined the SSSC from Forth Valley College and has lots of experience in supporting people to gain their qualifications.  

Roslyn is a Vocational Learning Assessment Manager at Fife College and shares her insights and advice about completing an SVQ qualification in Health and Social Care or Social Services (children and young people). Roslyn also explains the role of assessors, what support is available and the benefits of achieving an SVQ qualification.

Vilmantas is a support practitioner with Cornerstone providing care at home and housing support services. He was awarded Cornerstone Learner of the Year award for 2025 for his SVQ assignments that led to substantial improvements in challenging areas, such as mealtime routines for a supported person with high anxiety and trauma.

We want everyone to know that registering with the SSSC means committing to being qualified for your role. Our #SSSCregistered campaign supports the social care and children and young people workforce to gain their necessary qualifications for registration and tell people about it.  

The percentage of care services reporting staff vacancies dropped again in 2024, two years after a record high.

We’ve published our latest six-monthly survey report on Scotland’s social work workforce. The report provides detail on the number of filled and vacant social worker and senior social worker posts in local authorities in June 2025.

Listening to people with real-life experience helps us make better decisions. Their views have been key to updating the National Occupational Standards (NOS) and the current SVQ and modern apprenticeship review.

We’ve updated our guidance for employing 16 and 17-year-olds in social care and made an online version to make it easier for you.