The first Scottish Code of Practice for the international recruitment of health and Social Care personnel was published by the Scottish Government in February 2021. It applies to the appointment of all international health and social care personnel in Scotland, including all permanent, temporary, agency and locum staff. The Code demonstrates Scotland’s commitment to ethical recruitment and protecting the healthcare systems of developing countries.
On 2 August 2022, the UK code of practice was significantly revised and the Scottish Code has been amended to reflect the revisions.
The updates include:
- strengthened best practice benchmarks to ensure fairness and consistency in employment contracts, including setting out principles on the use of repayment clauses in employment contracts
- routes of escalation for concerns about exploitative recruitment and/or employment practices, and breaches of the code
- providing more clarity on how the code applies to different international recruitment models
- introduction of a knowledge test for recruiting organisations applying to be on the ethical recruiters list
- a number of case studies providing clarity on what collaborations and recruiting organisations are permitted to do in relation to ethical recruitment.
Please share the revised Code of Practice with your recruitment colleagues to ensure they are familiar with the revised code and ensure that all recruitment of international staff, whether directly or through an agency, complies with the revised Code of Practice.
The above information is from Provider update for adult and older people services from the Care Inspectorate Thu 04/08/2022