Phillip Gillespie to Ed Humpherson: Request for assessment of Scottish social services workforce data

Dear Ed

The SSSC Intelligence Strategy 2026-2029 is central to delivering the SSSC’s Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan sets out four outcomes; trusted, skilled, confident and valued, and our Intelligence Strategy enables us to achieve these through the effective use of data and intelligence. Our data and intelligence are integral to understanding the workforce and supporting the sector across Scotland.

In our Strategic Plan 2026-2029 we make a commitment to influence and support evidence-based national policy development across the social work, social care and children and the young people sector. We are also developing a new data website as a platform for our data products and reports based on accessibility and OSR standards.

Our role as a regulator and the work we do generates a wide range of data and intelligence that can help us and partners improve our understanding of the sector and the profile of its workforce. Our official statistics publications specifically support the sector and policy makers to:

Use workforce intelligence to support the Fair Work agenda by identifying where conditions, opportunities and experiences vary across the sector.
Highlight workforce pressures, turnover trends, and emerging risks through clear, accessible evidence so that national and local partners can recognise the contribution of the workforce, value their expertise, and target support where it is most needed.
Supports policy makers and employers with local and national workforce planning.

Over recent publication cycles, we have strengthened our statistical production processes and outputs in line with the Code of Practice. This includes enhanced quality assurance procedures and documentation and improved transparency around methods, data sources and limitations. We believe our annual workforce data report is now at an appropriate stage of maturity to be considered for accreditation.

In accordance with Section 12(1) of the Statistics and Registration Act 2007, I would be grateful if your Assessment Team could undertake assessment of the workforce data report. You can find the most current version here: Scottish Social Service Sector: Report on 2024 Workforce Data | Scottish Social Services Workforce Data

We look forward to working with the assessment team on this matter.

Yours sincerely

Phillip Gillespie

Head of Workforce Policy and Planning

Scottish Social Services Council