SSSC hearings: why the move to opt-in

Everyone that wants a hearing will get one. This is such an important point to make, that I’ll make it again. Everyone that wants a hearing will get one. At the start of July, the SSSC changed to opt-in hearings. It means that from now on we will only hold a hearing if a worker asks for one. If they don’t then we will impose a sanction on their registration.

Hearings

You might be wondering why we are doing this. Up until the start of July, we could only place a sanction on a worker’s registration if they consented or a panel decided that it was appropriate to.

This meant we had to hold lots of hearings where the worker did not engage with us or the process. It is fairly normal for a fitness to practise hearing to last several days. If there are lots of allegations, paperwork to look at and witnesses to hear from, it can last weeks. Each panel hearing involves a minimum of five people: three members on the panel, the clerk and a solicitor from the SSSC presenting the case. That is before we add witnesses who have to give up their time to answer questions from solicitors and the panel.

What we’ve found is that in most cases (94%) the decision of fitness to practise panels is the same as what our Fitness to Practise department initially proposed when workers don’t engage with us. This percentage drops when workers engage, and drops even further if they are represented, which shows why engaging with the fitness to practise process is very important. It’s also why we’ve been working very hard to increase worker engagement and representation.

Our work also tells us that until now, lots of different people have spent lots of time holding hearings when the worker didn’t engage, which resulted in the independent panel making the same decision as us.

Support for workers

Our 2019 consultation showed 92% of respondents agreed with the proposal, although there were some concerns about the level of support for workers being investigated for fitness to practise.

We listened carefully to those concerns, which is why we’ve worked hard to increase support for workers by encouraging union membership, working with law centres and the Faculty of Advocates, and introducing financial support for workers to attend hearings. We will keep doing this.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also sped up our move to holding more virtual hearings. We hope this enables more workers to engage and attend hearings. We know there is more that we need to do here.

Resources

These changes will allow us to spend less time holding unnecessary hearings, spend more time making the fitness to practise process better, and reduce the length of time it takes to complete our investigations.

Removing the need for witnesses to give evidence at these unnecessary hearings also means there is less pressure on services who have to release staff to attend.

We’ve updated our factsheets for workers so they are clear on the new process and, as I said in the first line of this article, we will hold a hearing any time a worker asks for one.

As with everything we do, we’ll engage with the sector, unions and other representatives to get their feedback on opt-in hearings and how they are working for them.

I’m confident it will lead to a better fitness to practise process for everyone involved and I’m excited to be the first social care regulator to make this change.