General Social Care Council

The General Social Care Council (GSCC) was a non-departmental public body of the Department of Health in the United Kingdom which was the regulator of social workers and social work students in England between 2001 and 2012. It set down codes of conduct for social workers and social work employers and maintained a register of around 100,000 social workers and students, using a conduct model to regulate and discipline registrants.

Creation and closure

The GSCC was set up in 2001 further to the Care Standards Act 2000, which was enacted partly in response to criticisms in the late 1990s of social services in Britain, in particular the high-profile case of Victoria Climbié, a young girl who was abused and eventually killed by her relatives in north London despite having been known to local social services. The GSCC inherited the mantle of the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work (CCETSW), a previous body which had responsibility solely for managing and funding Social Work education. The GSCC was given a broader remit to take a lead not only in education but in the strategic development and promotion of the whole social care sector in Britain.