Value for money perspective within the social welfare sector

The role of the Social Care Standards Authority (SCSA), as a regulatory body for social welfare services in Malta, is to improve the quality and standards in these services to protect and enhance the dignity, safety, and welfare of all service users.

The process of regulation is intended to be a positive experience, which is carried out through consultation, collaboration, and dialogue. It is envisaged that through its operations the Authority will positively influence social welfare practices and the qualitative development of services in the sector.

The Authority is making use of Social Intelligence Exercises in order to support better social policy and planning of decisionmaking. It encompasses the use of technologies, applications, and practices for the collection, integration, analysis, and presentation of social welfare information. The research design used in the Social Intelligence Exercises is directly transposed from the relevant Social Regulatory Standards – questions are formed directly from the standards with the aim of gathering information on whether the level of quality expected from the service can be raised or lowered. Respondents include service users and their relatives, professionals, staff, management of services, and assessors. These exercises will unearth historical, current, and predictive views of social welfare operations in Malta.

Since May 2018, the Authority has published Social Regulatory Standards for adoption services; respite, residential and day centre services for people with disabilities; and residential and office-based services for people with problems related to substance abuse and other dependencies. The SCSA also has other Social Regulatory Standards in the works which focus on other services, such as those for children in alternative care, high dependency chronic care services for older persons, and generic community services. All published Standards are available in their entire format together with an easy-read version on the Authority’s website, www.scsa.gov.mt.

In order to make sure that all the carried out research and published Social Regulatory Standards are not locked up in a drawer, but will serve as important instrument for change which will directly impact persons which are receiving social welfare service, the SCSA dedicates a lot of its own resources to enforcement through its Inspectorate Office. Indeed, throughout 2019, the SCSA issued 216 licences to entities operating within the field of social care, and has been on 998 visits to service providers.

To act as a catalyst in the promotion of a value for money perspective within the Social Welfare Sector

The social welfare sector today is translated to nearly 300 services across all sectors in the Maltese society; Government, NGOs, Church and private, and an expense of €220 million every year from the Government’s Budget. Thus, with the intention of strengthening the level of governance and accountability within the social welfare sector, the Authority is in the process of establishing a fully functional Risk Management System which will be used while auditing and evaluating social welfare services. A pilot project on Social Auditing will be undertaken to introduce the system to social welfare services in Malta. The Authority will introduce and facilitate a professional Social Planning perspective for the development, analysis and renewal of social welfare services, and organise training sessions for service providers while encouraging the dissemination and sharing of best practices.

The Authority is also planning to enforce an Integrated Approach across its systems and those used by social welfare providers. By achieving a structured regulation and stepping towards a more client-centred integrated system, the service users will transition from being a passive force into being more active and empowered, thus giving them a stronger voice and improving their quality of life.

The Social Care Standards Authority wants to empower social welfare service providers in Malta to adopt a spring concept in their line of work; social welfare services should not merely strive to assist vulnerable persons in getting out of difficult situations and in attaining a “normal” life, but should encourage and propel them into achieving their wants and into reaching their full potential.

Through these objectives, the Authority will positively shape social welfare services to offer the people of Malta and Gozo. While one of our aims is to inspire service providers, the authority’s best interest will always be the safety and security of the service users, whom we strive to empower through our actions.