Membership

1. How do I join SOSCN?
2. I have more than one service, can I register them all?
3. How do I get a new membership certificate?
4. How do I update my membership details?
5. How do I update my contact preferences?
6. How do I get a new password?
7. How do I change my login email?
8. How do I cancel my membership?

Quality Assurance - AQS

1. How do I register for Achieving Quality Scotland (AQS), SOSCN's quality improvement framework?
2. How long does it take to obtain AQS?
3. What are the benefits to doing AQS?
4. Costs, Conditions and Further Information

Running an OSC

1. How do I start my own OSC?
2. What qualifications do staff need in OSC?
3. How much do OSC staff get paid (pay-scales)?
4. How much should I be charging service users?
5. OSC A-to-Z

Finding and Choosing OSC

1. How do I find OSC for my child?
2. What do I look for when choosing OSC?
3. How much does OSC cost?

Membership

1. How do I join SOSCN?

Please follow this link to join SOSCN: soscn.org/membership.SOSCN membership is free and you join with your email address. It is a good idea to use the email address that you use for the OSC service, this may be the email address you have provided to the Care Inspectorate. All of our newsletters, bulletins, training updates, and other news will be sent out to this email address. You will also log-in with this email address in order to access our membership portal where you access downloads and also a copy of your membership certificate.

2. I have more than one service, can I register them all?

Yes. It is a good idea to register all your OSC services with the one SOSCN membership, all services will be registered to your primary email address that you use to register your first service. You can add additional email addresses for each service you add so that our information updates are sent to these too. In order to register more than one service, once you have registered your first service, there is an option to “add another service” within the “your details” section of your membership portal. Register your first service, then log-in and this option will be available. Alternatively, if you wish to have separate memberships for each service, with separate log-in emails, then this is also possible providing you use different primary email addresses for each service.

3. How do I get a new membership certificate?

If your membership certificate is out of date, or you need a new one, you can get a new certificate by logging into your membership portal here - soscn.org/membership - and once you are logged in click the “your certificate” tab within the menu. Links to download and print your certificate will then be accessible. If you have registered more than one service to your email address, all service's certificates will be accessible here. If your membership certificate is out of date then this is because your membership details have not been updated in a while, please just update your membership details and then click back to the “your certificate” section and the valid-to-date on your membership certificate will be updated.

4. How do I update my membership details?

Once you are logged in, click the “your details” tab in the menu - then click on the name of the service that you wish to update the details for. If you have more than one service registered to your primary email address, all of the services will appear here. Once you have clicked on your services name, your will see your current details. Click the blue tab that shows “update these details” and the current details will then be editable. Once you have made any changes, just enter your password and click “submit”.

4. How do I update my contact preferences?

Follow the steps above to updating your details, your contact preferences, including receiving emails, can be changed here.

5. How do I get a new password?

If you have lost your password, please see this link - soscn.org/membership?action=reminder - to request a password reset link to be sent to your email address.

6. How do I change my login email?

To change your registered email address that you use to log in, please log in with the email address that is currently registered, click the “account settings” tab in the menu - then click the “change email” tab in the sub-menu.

If you no longer have access to the email address that is currently registered please send an email to membership@soscn.org

7. How do I cancel my membership?

Please log-in and click “account settings” within the menu tab, then “cancel your membership”.

Quality Assurance

1. How do I register for Achieving Quality Scotland (AQS), SOSCN's quality improvement framework?

To register for AQS you must first register for a free SOSCN membership. If you do not already have a SOSCN membership, then this can be done at this link - soscn.org/membership - and should only take a few minutes. One you have a SOSCN membership, please log in and visit the “quality assurance” section of your membership portal. Here you will find the process to join AQS.

2. How long does it take to obtain AQS?

The process for gathering all the required evidence for AQS can take anything up to one year. Some services will be able to do this a lot quicker and have been known to do it in 6-8 months.

3. What are the benefits to doing AQS?

For those services which gain the Achieving Quality Scotland mark they will have further external objective verification of the quality delivered by their service in terms of practice, management and ultimately the best experiences and opportunities for children, and families using their service. Whilst this is the ultimate goal, it is the process of undertaking the scheme which is of the greatest importance and value- it requires services to evaluate themselves and look at opportunities for change and development. Quality improvement is an ongoing commitment to simply be the best service possible.

4. Costs, Conditions and Further Information

If you have any other questions about AQS, please see the quality assurance page of our website here: Quality Assurance

Running an OSC

1. How do I start my own OSC?

We have a detailed OSC Start-Up guide, that you can access here: Start-Up Guide, and has everything that you need to consider before you start, as well as what you need to do along the way.

2. What qualifications do staff need in OSC?

Qualifications requirements for OSC staff are set by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC). All staff working within an OSC service will legally be required to maintain their registration with the SSSC and be suitable qualified for the job position they are working in. The minimum requirements for each job role within OSC can be found on the SSSC website here: www.sssc.uk.com. You can find further information and direct links to each job profile on the regulation page of our website here: Regulation

3. How much do OSC staff get paid (pay-scales)?

Salaries and hourly rates for OSC workers vary widely across job position and local authority in Scotland. Many factors affect how much staff get paid, such as the size of the service and geographical location. Key concerns when setting pay include ensuring that pay rates are sustainable without compromising your business model, whilst also ensuring staff are suitably rewarded. SOSCN has compiled a factsheet on pay-scales that you can find here: Factsheets

4. How much should I be charging service users?

The costs for OSC vary widely and typically range from £3.00 per hour to about £14.00 for an afternoon session (3pm – 6pm). Many services have pricing structures where service users pre-pay for the school term or year. SOSCN advice on this matter is to base your fees sensibly to ensure a sustainable business model based on the number of children you are expecting to attend, set against all of your outgoings.

5. OSC A-to-Z

For further information on topics such as Healthy Eating, Childcare Tax Credits, Contracts, Parental Involvement, please see this link: OSC A-to-Z

Finding and Choosing OSC

1. How do I find OSC for my child?

The Scottish Family Information Service hold information on childcare in your area. Visit their website here: www.families.scot/

Alternatively, the Care Inspectorate – the organisation that inspects OSCs and where all OSC services are registered, have a search function to find childcare in your area. OSC falls into the category “Daycare of Children”. Use their search function to pull out results of all Daycare of Children services in your area, or by using keywords. Unfortunately, the search results will also pull out nurseries and playgroups as well. However, many OSC services will be identifiable by their name (e.g., Your Town OSC), and if you are unsure, click on the search result to see further details as to whether the service provides out of school care or just nursery provision. Here you can also see any registered services inspection reports to see how good the service is. Visit the care inspectorate website here: www.careinspectorate.com/index.php/care-services

2. What do I look for when choosing OSC?

SOSCN has produced handy parents' and children's guides to OSC, please follow these links to access these: Parent's Guide | Children's Guide

3. How much does OSC cost?

OSC costs vary depending but often range between £6 and £8 per hour, with after school sessions typically lasting 3 hours.