SSSC registration: who must register, the deadlines, qualifications and fees

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) regulates the social service workforce in Scotland. If you run a care home, a care at home service or a housing support service, most of your care staff must be on its Register, and keeping track of who has applied, who is registered and whose qualification deadline is coming up is part of running the service safely.

This guide is for registered managers and owners in Scotland. In England there is no equivalent registration for care workers; Wales and Northern Ireland have their own (Social Care Wales and NISCC).

Who must register

The SSSC registers people working in social care services that are registered with the Care Inspectorate, including residential care, care at home and housing support. In adult care homes the main Register parts are:

Care at home and housing support services have support worker, supervisor and manager parts. The SSSC's online tool sets out the full qualification rules for each part, and it doesn't give advice on individual roles: you decide which part fits from the job description.

Some points the SSSC makes in its guidance:

• Agency and relief workers doing a registrable role must register too.
• Acting up: a support worker who regularly or occasionally covers as a supervisor should be registered on both parts.
• Modern apprentices doing a care role should register on the relevant part.
• Nurses registered with the NMC, and others who must register with another regulator, don't register with the SSSC.
• Staff whose role is purely non-care (a lunchtime assistant who only serves food, for example) don't need to register. If they do any direct support or caring, they do.

The deadlines: three months to apply, six to be registered

Since 3 June 2024, workers starting a role must apply within three months and be registered within six months. This is law, not good practice: the SSSC's guidance says it is an offence for an employer not to comply, unless the provider has a reasonable excuse, and only the courts can decide what counts.

Common reasons people miss the six-month point are an incomplete application, a late payment, a delay in the employer endorsing (countersigning) the application, or a fitness to practise check. If someone isn't registered in time, the SSSC suggests the employer carries out a risk assessment and can ask their Care Inspector for advice, but the decision is the employer's.

Qualification conditions

If a worker doesn't yet hold the qualification for their role, the SSSC registers them with a qualification condition and a deadline. Under Schedule 2 of the SSSC Registration Rules 2025:

The SSSC can extend these in exceptional circumstances. Missing a condition can lead to removal from the Register, so these dates belong on your training plan, not in a drawer.

No more five-yearly renewal: the annual declaration

The SSSC Registration Rules 2025 came into force on 1 April 2025. Registration now continues until the entry is removed, rather than running for a fixed period. To stay registered, each worker must:

• complete an annual declaration in MySSSC around their registration date, confirming they remain fit to practise and showing evidence of any conditions due;
• pay the annual fee;
• confirm their continuous professional learning (CPL) is up to date and keep an annual record of it;
• tell the SSSC about changes in employment, role, qualifications, convictions or health that affect their work.

For social care workers, annual CPL must cover rights-based and ethical practice, communication and relationships, wellbeing and support, protection, knowledge for the role, reflective practice, and leadership and quality assurance, plus learning on trauma awareness and the protection of children and adults. A worker removed for not completing the declaration or paying the fee has to apply to join the Register again before they can carry on in a registrable role.

Fees for 2026/27

The SSSC publishes fees up to 2029/30. They're payable on application and each year with the annual declaration. Workers may be able to claim tax relief on the fee from HMRC.

The Codes of Practice

The revised SSSC Codes of Practice came into effect on 1 May 2024. There is a Code for social service workers and a Code for employers. For employers, the parts that matter most day to day are:

• safe recruitment, including checking criminal records and registers (1.2);
• supporting workers to meet their registration conditions and CPL (3.4);
• providing effective and regular supervision (3.7). The Code doesn't set a frequency: decide one in your supervision policy and keep the records;
• reporting workers whose fitness to practise may be impaired (2.11). The SSSC expects employers to tell it when they dismiss a worker for misconduct, or when a worker leaves in circumstances that would otherwise have led to dismissal.

PVG: the related check

SSSC registration isn't a criminal record check. That's the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme, run by Disclosure Scotland, and it's a legal requirement for anyone doing a regulated role with children or protected adults. Since 1 April 2026, membership lasts five years and then must be renewed. Existing lifetime members don't need to reapply: Disclosure Scotland is moving them to five-year membership in phases, and notifies members at least three months before membership ends.

Organisations also have a duty to report harmful behaviour to Disclosure Scotland when they permanently remove someone from a regulated role (or would have, had the person not left). Care Inspectorate guidance says that if this referral isn't made within three months of the decision, Disclosure Scotland will report the organisation to Police Scotland.

A simple registration tracker

Review it at every supervision. The SSSC suggests registration is a useful supervision topic, and the Care Inspectorate expects recruitment records to show professional registration checks.

How ShiftComplete helps

ShiftComplete is built for England first. Its staff compliance file holds DBS details, right to work, visa and sponsorship dates, NMC PIN and revalidation, and references. It has no SSSC or PVG fields. What Scottish providers can do instead, as a suggestion:

• Add "SSSC registration" and "SSSC qualification condition" as items on the training matrix, with a refresh period you set and a photo of the registration confirmation. The matrix turns amber within 30 days of the date and red when it passes, and each staff member sees their own row.
• Schedule supervisions with due dates and use the notes to check registration and CPL.
• Right to work, visa and NMC details in the compliance file apply in Scotland too.

It costs £2.49 per active staff member per month, with no contract, and the first 60 days are free with no card needed.

See how it works for your home on our care homes page, or for care at home services on our home care page.