National Occupational Standards

National Occupational Standards (NOS) describe best practice by bringing together skills, knowledge and values. National Occupational Standards are a valuable tool to be used as benchmarks for qualifications as well as defining roles at work, staff recruitment, supervision and appraisal. The Health and Social Care National Occupational Standards (NOS) are jointly owned by all the alliance partners within Skills for Care and Development and Skills for Health. Any reviews of NOS are undertaken jointly by all UK alliance partners.

This section contains information about how occupational standards are applied in social work and social care to maintain high quality social care services.

In this section ...

NOS in Social Work  NOS in Health and Social Care  NOS in Children's Care, Learning and Development  NOS in Contracting Procurement and Commissioning  NOS in Sensory Need/Impairment  NOS in Leadership and Management for Care Services

Downloadable documents ...

Occupational Standards Information Leaflet
NISCC May 2002

This introductory leaflet was produced by staff and service user representatives to provide a broad outline of what occupational standards are and how they are used to support service delivery and training for social care services.

Developing strategic uses of national occupational standards

Delivering high quality social care services requires strategic leadership and clear operational management. Managers using National Occupational Standards have found that the standards help to reinforce the link from strategy to operational management and to service standards. This leaflet considers how the standards can contribute to seven business areas:

1. Business planning
2. Workforce management
3. Benchmarking
4. Change management
5. Contract specification for care services
6. Marketing
7. Risk Management

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