1. SOUTH AFRICAN COUNCIL FOR SOCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONS (SACSSP) TO
BRIEFING REPORT:
SOUTH AFRICAN COUNCIL FOR SOCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONS (SACSSP) TO
THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
President- Ms. Marilyn Setlalentoa

2. INTRODUCTION Topics to be discussed: Introduction
Objectives and Role of the Council
Role and Functions of Professional Boards
Transformation Agenda of the Council
Activities of the Council
CEO’S/REGISTRARS OFFICE
EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT
POLICY AND ADVOCACY
PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
Partnering with the Department of Social Development and other social service partners
Challenges
Conclusion

3. INTRODUCTION
The Council is indeed very grateful for the recognition given the social work profession in the budget speech of Minister Trevor Manuel, as this is the oldest profession of the social service professions. As psycho-social problems in our country increase, so is the demand for more social service professionals, especially social workers that are in the coal face of services to vulnerable groups.
The Council noted with concern a decrease in the number of newly qualified social workers and others leaving the country. Some of the reasons expressed are:

4. INTRODUCTION (Conti…
Salaries for government are still not attractive, in spite of recent increases in the salaries and improvement in opportunities for a career path for the profession
NGOs are paying far less than government
Working conditions are not conducive
The challenge however is for all social services professions and stakeholders to work together towards ensuring the achievement of ”social cohesion and human solidarity”.

5. INTRODUCTION (Conti…
The mere fact that Minister Trevor Manuel repeated the statement made by the former President Nelson Mandela that “people’s lives hold equal value”. The 2007 budget placed the people of South Africa therefore in the centre. The challenge however, is for all social services stakeholders to work together towards ensuring the achievement of ”social cohesion and human solidarity”.
By its nature social development is concerned about bringing people together. Because human life has equal worth, Government is building the social work profession to contribute in assisting people in achieving social and economic development.
The Department of Social Development is at the centre to reach vulnerable group and the need for more social service professionals is well addressed in the budget speech.

6. INTRODUCTION (Conti…
As poverty remains still one of the challenges in our country, social security and social welfare services are of paramount importance to improve the social functioning of our people.
Involving communities in developmental programmes would reduce dependency on the state and would contribute to economic growth because the approach will provide job opportunities.
Social service professionals should be trained in a way that would contribute economic development of our people, hence the critical role Continued Professional Development (CPD) would play.
Multi-disciplinary approach of is critical in the rendering of holistic services to communities.

7. OBJECTIVES AND ROLE OF THE COUNCIL
In terms of the Act the Council’s comprehensive role can be summarised as follows:
Council is the determining, guiding and regulating body in South Africa. Council therefore fulfils this role by setting the standards for education and training of practitioners and by taking policy resolutions as guidelines for the practice of social service professions under its auspices.
Council is the protector of the interests of the clients. This role is executed by Council, leading the social service practitioners, in maintaining the ethical standards of practice (by giving guidance and by taking disciplinary action when necessary, in terms of the Act).
Council also promotes the interests of those who are registered with it, for instance, practitioners may obtain advice from the Council regarding the handling of situations in their practise.

8. Role and functions of Professional Boards
The role and functions of the professional boards are as follows:
Establish registers for the practitioners under their auspices
Establish the criteria for their registration
Determine the acts or omissions which shall constitute unprofessional conduct
Formulate the code of ethics to be followed in the practising of the profession concerned.

9. Transformation Agenda of Council
The Council appointed a Transformation Committee to
attend to transformation matters including the ff:
Restructuring of the structure of the Council to address equity and operations to promote efficiency and responsiveness to the sector
Demarcation of the fields of services i.e. Professionalisation vs Specialisation
Review of the Social Service Professions Act, 110 of 1978, jointly with the Department

10. STATISTICS OF REGISTERED PERSONS
2003/2004
2005/2005
2005/2006
2006/2007
Social workers
10645
10676
11414
11525
Student- Social workers
1591
1848
2189
1045
976
1126
1063- registration in progress- closing date June 2007
Student Social Auxiliary workers
Student numbers –incorporated in above statistic, June Council no longer provide its own training course and SAW’s register in the FET training programme offered by the HWseta,
1755-
FET
Learnerships

11. STRATEGIC PLAN
In presenting the strategic plan for the 2007/08 financial year, we outline our intention to streamline social service professions, to promote efficiency, prevent duplication and to maximize service delivery in respect of social development as well as positively contribute to “social interventions of joint efforts among all South Africans to improve social cohesion” as mentioned by President Mbeki in his State of the Nation Address.
The Social Service Professions Act, 110, 1978 is the guide to ensure true collaboration.
VISION AND MISSION
A professional Council striving for social justice through guiding, enabling, and empowering the social service professions to promote and enhance developmental social welfare in the interests of their various social service client groups.
Serving the interest of social service professionals
Education and training
Ethical conduct and
Professional service
STRATEGIC PLAN
SACSSP
SACSSP employees to excel
Client centricity
Foresight and Visionary thinking
Positive attitude/optimism
Trustworthiness
Respect for the individual
Understanding as well as buying into the strategic vision/ mandate of the Council

12. PROGRAMMES AND PRIORITIES 2007/08
PPROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
CEO’S/REGISTRARS OFFICE
Create awareness amongst the public about the code of conduct expected from social service professionals
Educate communities about their rights and recourse if social service professionals violate these rights
Educate social service stakeholders about ethics and the role Council play in ensuring adherence to these ethics by social service professionals
Research into Trends pertaining to Disciplinary
Compile a compendium of previous cases for social work students to use during training
Policy development to govern the relationship between Council and Boards
Processing of Regulations
Professionalizing other occupational groups
Financial sustainability of the Council and the Professional Boards
Expansion of registers of the social service professions

13. PROGRAMMES AND PRIORITIES 2007/08 (Conti…
EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT
POLICY AND ADVOCACY
Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
Determine more specialised fields in Social Work
Learnership in Social Auxiliary Work (SAW), Child and Youth Care (CYC) etc
Develop minimum standards for the education and training of social auxiliary workers and social workers
Finalise and publish the regulations for registration of child and youth care workers
Compliance with norms and standards for IHL
Enhance image profession
Development and implementation of Communication strategy
Constituency consultation
Management of media

14. PARTNERSHIPS WITH VARIUOS SOCIAL SERVICES STAKEHOLDERS

15. Future partnering projects
Joint strategy for mitigating impact of HIV/AIDS on professionals
Accelerating education and training of more social workers and social auxiliary workers
Continuous professional development (reorientation of social service professionals e.g. on customer care)

16. Future partnering projects (cont.)
Establishment of more specialities in social work, in line with the recruitment and retention strategy for social workers
Registration of new professions e.g. development practitioners
Provincial visits to employers of social workers, to assess compliance with norms and standards
A conference for the sector where the unified professional association for social workers will be launched

17. CHALLENGES
To enhance the image of the social service professions, through marketing and continued professional development
To provide guidelines to the various occupational groups in terms of scope of practice, standards for education and training and the code of ethics
To create awareness amongst civil society about the code of ethics of social service professionals

18. CHALLENGES (cont.)
To professionalize various unregulated groups of occupations that render inferior services to vulnerable groups
To ensure financial sustainability of all professional boards
To clarify the roles and responsibilities of the Council versus the Professional Boards in relation to the Council’s role as the juristic person and the accounting institution
Registration of child and Youth care workers – Acceleration of the consultation process to enable the finalisation of the regulations and database to be able to register them

19. CONCLUSION
Council sincerely appreciates this opportunity to present to the Portfolio Committee on issues of common interest that are meant to improve the sector and challenges faced by our country

20. THANK YOU