About ASCC

Who are we?

ASCC is a network of people who work with or have an interest in excellence in social care communications throughout the UK. These can be for internal or external audiences and relate to the provision of information for staff, adults, carers or children.

Once an organisation has become a member of ASCC, then all its staff can benefit from that membership.

We offer our members the opportunity to network with others in a similar position, to share good practice and hear about innovations through the website, our magazine and our conferences.

Aims and objectives

ASCC aims to:

• Raise the profile of information – it’s a service in its own right.
• Improve the quality and range of information available to service users and staff.
• Encourage the exchange of ideas between information workers throughout the country.
• Act as a support group offering a change to discuss the particular problems of providing quality public information – you don’t need to re-invent the wheel.

Original SSIN

In February 1986 a meeting was held in Coventry to establish a group for social service staff in information work.

The call for such a group came out of three workshops set up by the National Institute for Social Work’s (NISW) Practice and Development Exchange funded by the Rowntree Trust, to explore information needs in the field of social care. A report of the workshops was produced by Gerry Smale in 1985 entitled Information Exchange: Swamp or Desert?

NISW felt that such a group was necessary because of the professional isolation and lack of contact between information workers in the field and the lack of information being exchanged between departments.

Social Services Departments (SSDs) throughout the country constantly generate vast quantities of information such as reports, research, new projects etc. This information although of interest to other SSDs engaged in similar research and work, often did not get publicised or reported. Other SSDs therefore did not get to hear about what other authorities were doing.

The group of librarians and information officers felt that there should be a way of facilitating the flow of information between SSDs to avoid unnecessary duplication of work which is costly in terms of staff time and resources.

The Social Services Information Network (ssin) was formally established in November 1986.

In May 2003 the SSIN name evolved into the ASCC – Association of Social Care Communicators.