Glossary

Glossary of social care terms

Activities of Daily Living: Tasks that people carry out to look themselves and their homes, and participate in work and leisure activities.

Apprenticeship: Government funded scheme aimed at people aged 16 to 24 to offer vocational training in their chosen area of work, such as social care.

Dietetics: Diet and its effects on health.

Extra Care Housing: A style of housing and care for individuals that falls between established patterns of sheltered housing and accommodation, and care provided in more traditional residential care homes, may also be known as Very Sheltered Housing.

General Social Care Council (GSCC): This is the workforce regulator and guardian of standards for the social care workforce of England.  It is responsible for promoting high standards of practice and training.

Holistic: This means taking all the elements of a person’s life into account – including physical, emotional, mental and spiritual elements.

Independence:  Managing everyday living skills to maximise ability, taking account of the support available and needed.

Independent Sector:  Includes both private and voluntary social care providers, who may be contracted to provide services on behalf of statutory agencies.

Informed consent:  This is giving people enough objective, evidence-based information to be able to make their own decisions.

Key Skills: The ability to communicate, to understand and use basic maths, and to use information technology.  There are also three wider key skills. These are problem solving, working effectively with others, and improving your own learning and performance.

LSP: (Local Strategic Partnership) bring together public, private, voluntary and community sectors to provide a single overarching local framework within which action to improve the local quality of life for local people is co-ordinated.

NTOW: New Types Of Worker

NWOW: New Ways Of Working

Promoting Independence: Most people would prefer to look after themselves as much as possible and to remain in their own home. Recent guidance has challenged statutory agencies to promote such independence by ensuring that people have access to the information and services that they need. It also places increased emphasis on rehabilitation and the associated therapy services.

Provider of Care Services: An independent or statutory organisation that may provide a whole range of care services for those in need.

Purchaser of Care Services: May be local authority social services departments or individuals with their own private financial means who purchase care services for others or themselves.

PQ: Post Qualification

PRTL: Post Registration Training and Learning

QAA: Quality Assurance Agency

QCA: The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) accredit and monitors qualifications in schools, colleges and at work.

Rehabilitation Work:Done to assist someone regain skills they may have lost through illness or disability. It helps them re-learn to do things they could previously do for themselves.

QCF: Qualifications Credit Framework

Skills for Care: The employer-led strategic body for workforce development for adult social care in England. Its workforce information for employers, workers and others includes the standards that care training is based on, and the web pages that you are currently reading. It is part of an alliance with similar bodies for children's services and the other UK countries, who together make up the government-licensed sector skills council, Skills for Care and Development.

Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE): SCIE was launched in October 2001 as part of the Government's drive to improve social care and is an independent advisory body for all matter relating to care.

Social Care: Any form of support or help given to someone to assist them in taking their place in society.

Social Inclusion: Strategies which seek to ensure participation by targeting communities marginalised by lack of economic opportunity, educational achievement or other barriers.

Stakeholders: People or organisations which have an interest in a proposed development or idea.

Statutory Agencies: Official organisations set up according to written laws of central government.