By Russell Findlay

Thousands of carers who look after elderly people in their own homes are not registered with the social care watchdog.

Those working in residential care homes have been regulated by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) since 2015 - with more than 250 struck off for a catalogue of abuse and other misconduct in that time.

But it won't be until September 2020 that all 29,000 care-at-home workers will also be registered, STV News has learned.

In today's first part of a two-day special report on elderly abuse, the widow of a man whose carer stole from him in their own home is critical about the gap in registration.

Carer Emma Stokeld stole cash from George Buchanan, 84, in Prestwick, Ayrshire. He died last October, weeks after she was caught.

After being sacked, Stokeld was hired by Homecare by Hera Ltd, which provides at-home carers for South Ayrshire Council. She was only dismissed after Mr Buchanan's widow Yvonne Buchanan alerted the authorities.

She told STV News: "The system is in place to protect people. In this instance, I don't think it did protect people because Emma Stokeld was then free to move on to another position in another job, caring for vulnerable people.

"But it took me as an individual to step in and to make that happen. That shouldn't be the case. These safe checks should be in place to make sure that it's not up to the individuals to chase particular cases."

Mrs Buchanan noticed money was missing from her husband's wallet after visits from his carers, who he needed after falling and suffering a brain injury.

Stokeld's employers set up a sting operation using marked bank notes and she was convicted of stealing £20 - although the full amount she took is unknown.

School teacher Mrs Buchanan said it was "absolutely appalling" when a carer looking after someone abused their trust, adding "my husband was abused".

She said: "And it left me with great sadness and the fact that his final three or four months were plagued by Emma Stokeld stealing money from his wallet and making him even more vulnerable and more confused than what he was.

"It's absolutely scandalous that these gaps are in the system."

Dundee-based SSSC was established in 2001 and is responsible for registering an estimated 200,000 people who work in all areas of care, including childcare and social workers.

Care-at-home workers are only now in the process of being registered, which involves background checks and the need for a professional qualification.

SSSC chief executive Lorraine Gray said they had to decide which groups to prioritise depending on their size and the impact on public protection.

She said: "That's one of the reasons it's at the end of the process but all of these groups were vulnerable and it was about the size of the workforce as well.

"So I think there was never going to be a perfect solution about how we regulated, but care-at-home was a smaller group when we started out but the delivery of care has changed quite significantly.

"When we were established, nobody at all was registered and this was a workforce of about 200,000 people so what we've done is phase in registration ... [the] Scottish Government sets timelines about how we would phase in registration."

At least 254 elderly care home workers have been banished from the profession since 2015 with more than 30 of those so far this year.

Some were convicted of crimes such as assault and being verbally abusive or threatening while other misconduct across Scotland has included theft, neglect, drug taking, alcohol abuse and dishonesty.

The SSSC holds misconduct hearings in front of an independent panel at its Dundee HQ and publishes their detailed decisions online.

One carer due to appear is Ruth Monaghan, who was accused of being violent and abusive towards Janet McCaffrey, 65, who had complex care needs as a resident at Hillside View Care Home in Paisley.

Monaghan has already been found guilty of behaving in a threatening or abusive way towards the pensioner last April although an assault charge was not proven. She was sentenced to 75 hours of community service at Paisley Sheriff Court.

Christine McCaffrey and Michelle Cullen struggle with the decision to put their mum into care.

"It made me think when my mum says never ever put me in a care home and that's when it hits you and you go, 'what have I done?'," Ms McCaffrey said.

"Could we have done anything else to keep my mum at home but we couldn't have. She needed medical care that none of us were qualified for. We tried everything, honest to God we did. We tried."

Ms Cullen added: "I felt guilty. I'll feel guilty till the day I die. She was totally helpless."

While they are devastated at the abuse and the outcome of the criminal case, the sisters are grateful to other care staff for reporting Monaghan and telling the truth in court.

Ms McCaffrey said: "I can't thank them enough for even coming forward. If it wasn't for them then we wouldn't have known anything that went on."

Such whistleblowing is common according to SSSC chief Gray and evidence that most carers - who do a challenging job for modest wages - would never dream of being abusive.

Gray also says that while any abuse is wrong, such behaviour is no more common than it is amongst other professions such as doctors, dentists and nurses.

She said: "To suggest that we'll ever have a sector where nothing ever goes wrong is, I think, naive. We will always have these people whose practice is not good enough and we will take action.

"The vast majority of people do a really good job. There's these small number who don't but we take action and that action means they won't work in care again.

"I think the other thing that's important to say about the sector is that often the people that report, the people who are the witnesses, the people who ensure that vulnerable people get good care are their peers or other workers.

"So I think that also says something about the sector that when they see somebody working beside them that's not kind, that's not compassionate, they speak out as well."

Homecare By Hera has been approached for comment.

A top judge believes that offences against the elderly should be treated as hate crimes.

Lord Bracadale last year urged the Scottish Government to extend the list of statutory aggravations to include the sex and age of victims.

And last month the government published the results of its consultation on the judge's recommendations, following his review of hate crime laws.

From 537 respondents, 29% wanted to see a victims' age as being an aggravating factor with 54 against and 17 unsure.

Yvonne Buchanan backs Lord Bracadale's view, saying: "If the punishment was a bit more severe then there might be less crimes against the elderly."

There are around 131,000 workers registered with the SSSC, according to the Scottish Government. They say that by next year that will have risen to 160,000 - which is around 80 per cent of the entire care work force.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said registration "has been taken forward in a phased manner to reflect the scale of the workforce concerned".

In response to calls to make offences against the elderly a hate crime, they added: "We will consider this as we take forward our plans in this are for this parliamentary session."