Information and support from Skills for Care
The latest ‘State of the adult social care sector and workforce in England’ report was published today. It shows some improvements in workforce capacity, including more posts being filled, fewer vacancies and less turnover.
While the data reveals that the workforce grew by 1% in 2022/23 and vacancy rates reduced from 10.6% to 9.9%, there were still 152,000 vacancies a day and 390,000 people left their roles last year - with around a third of them leaving social care completely and the rest getting new jobs within the sector.
In response to trends highlighted in the report, Skills for Care, as the strategic workforce development body for adult social care in England, will be working with a wide range of organisations and people who have a stake in social care, to develop a workforce strategy. The strategy will identify the social care workforce needed over the next 15 years and set out a plan for ensuring the sector has enough of the right people with the right skills.
This year’s report also gives brand new insight into what works when it comes to keeping people working in adult social care. By exploring trends in the data, it identifies five factors that can be helpful for employers to consider when thinking about what’s important for retaining staff.
The report is only possible thanks to data provided by thousands of employers to our Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set (ASC-WDS). Take a look at our website to see the updated report and data visualisations.
Recruitment support
‘Made with Care’ recruitment campaign live
The Department of Health and Social Care’s national adult social care recruitment campaign launched on Monday and runs until the end of March 2024, to support you in recruiting the dedicated staff you need to fill your vacancies.
To accompany the campaign, a suite of new, free resources has been created to help you advertise your job opportunities locally.
The campaign raises awareness of the rewarding nature of care work and tackles the concerns that research shows potential applicants may have. By working with the campaign, you can help ensure that people inspired by it are motivated and supported to take action and apply for local jobs at all levels, increasing the number of quality candidates that apply to your roles.
To find out more visit adultsocialcare.co.uk
New demographics in care: Experience mapping interviews
We’re currently running a project which aims to bring new men and young people into a career in care. To inform the project we’ve commissioned TPXimpact to undertake some research. They’d like to talk to men and young people who currently work in adult social care to help them understand motivations for working in the sector and the benefits of a career in care. The interviews will take no longer than 30 minutes and will involve either a video call or telephone interview.
If you’re interested, please contact Philippa.Reddington@skillsforcare.org.uk or Ximena.soto-soutullo@tpximpact.com for more information.
Developing your workforce
‘Creating an inclusive organisation’ eLearning
To help build confidence to improve equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) across your organisation, our ‘Creating an inclusive organisation’ eLearning modules are for anyone working in social care who’d like to learn more about EDI.
The modules are primarily aimed at those from ethnic minority backgrounds as they’ve been designed to support learners to deal with specific challenges they may face in the sector. However, the modules may be of interest to anyone who is interested in EDI.
Confident with difference
Our 'Confident with difference' resource supports you to consider how well diversity is embraced within your organisation and how you could improve. Consisting of four films with supporting questions, leaders and managers can use this resource with their teams to reflect on their own practices and generate discussion points to help facilitate change within their organisation.
Find out more about the resource
Essential training funding now available
Fully funded essential training is now available and includes the rapid induction programme, refresher training and a volunteer programme. Employers can select from six endorsed providers who have been awarded grants to deliver the training within this financial year. We encourage you to sign learners up to complete the training whilst it’s available.
Support for leaders and managers
The care exchange | Series 4 launch
Series 4 of ‘The care exchange’ podcast kicks off with a fascinating conversation with Neil Eastwood, CEO and founder of Care Friends discussing the secrets to recruitment. We chatted about having a narrow and wide focus on attracting job applicants and how to connect with people in your local community. Neil also shared lots of tips on how to improve your recruitment and retention processes including texting, hosting a dog show, reserving parking spaces, welcome cards and even providing a favourite chocolate bar!
CQC eLearning modules
We’ve updated our one-hour eLearning modules to provide an introduction to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) single assessment framework. Whether you’re preparing for your first inspection or trying to improve your CQC rating, we have a range of eLearning modules to help you understand what is expected of your service and how you can best evidence these expectations.
Menopause awareness in the workplace
World Menopause Awareness Day is held yearly on 18 October. People who go through the menopause can be negatively affected by menopause symptoms, which means it's vital leaders and managers are aware of how to support their staff through this time. We have resources to help, including guidance for managers and staff and a webinar on how to create a positive menopause culture.
Workforce intelligence
Latest report identifies new adult social care workforce trends
Skills for Care’s latest ‘The state of the adult social care sector and workforce in England’ report includes a comprehensive analysis of the latest data and workforce trends. This includes topics from training and qualifications, recruitment and retention to workforce demographics and pay. Key findings in the report show that:
adult social care added £55.7 billion per annum to the economy in England (up 8.5% from 2021/22) – which is more than the accommodation and food service industries
for the first time on record, the proportion of men working in the sector increased from 18% to 19%
only 8% of the workforce was aged under 25 - compared with 12% of the economically active population
the number of registered nurse filled posts increased by 2% in 2022/23 to 33,000
between March 2022 and March 2023, an estimated 70,000 people arrived in the UK and started direct care providing roles in the independent sector.
Projections show that we will need 25% more posts (440,000) by 2035 if the number of adult social care posts grows proportionally to the projected number of people aged 65 and over in the population.
Access the full report and updated interactive visualisations
Regulated professional workforce
Nursing associate and student nursing associate – Online national community of practice events
Wednesday 29 November 2023 | 13:00 - 14:30
Are you a nursing associate or a student nursing associate based in social care? We’re looking for you to be part of our national community of practice network which will support you to connect with peers, learn and share good practice and develop skills for reflective discussion and leadership. To find out more, please email lucy.gillespie@skillsforcare.org.uk
Nursing Live
Friday 10 – Saturday 11 November 2023 | 9:30 – 17:00 | Exhibition Centre Liverpool
Skills for Care will be at the upcoming Nursing Live event to represent nursing in social care. The event will bring thousands of nurses together to take part in peer-to-peer collaboration, interactive activities, observe demonstrations and masterclasses and more. You’ll have access to a wide range of self-care guidance and lifestyle resources designed specifically for nurses so you’ll get the chance to enhance your career, and boost your personal wellbeing, all under one roof.
Events
Achieving equity in the workplace: Celebrating and supporting our Black sisters in social care
Tuesday 17 October 2023 I 12:00 – 13:00 I Zoom
Join us during Black History Month 2023 as we talk to Black women leaders in social care to recognise and celebrate the role of Black women in adult social care, taking learnings from their experiences, and understanding about how allyship can contribute to achieving equity in the workplace.
National event for nominated individuals
Wednesday 29 November 2023 I 11:00 – 12:30
Our third national event for nominated individuals will be focusing on digital leadership and digital transformation. The event will support you to develop your own digital strategies and help you identify ways to develop the digital capabilities and skills of your workforce. You’ll also discover more about Skills for Care’s support and resources and our nominated individual networks in regional break-out discussions.
Being prepared for CQC inspection seminar
Tuesday 12 December I 10:00 – 15:30 I Zoom
With new inspection changes commencing later this year, this seminar brings together frontline managers to learn about the step-by-step ways to be ready to evidence that your service meets Care Quality Commission (CQC) expectations to achieve a Good or Outstanding rating. Discover practical ways to prepare for inspection and evidence the quality care your service is providing.
Registered manager webinars
Integrated care
Wednesday 25 October I 14:00 – 15:00 I Zoom
Drawing on experiences of Skills for Care’s integration lead and providers benefitting from working with integrated care systems (ICSs), this webinar will look at person-centred approaches and what the CQC might expect. It will also focus on practical ways to build mutually beneficial relationships to enable communities to work together in delivering integrated care.
I’m a technophobe, get me out of here – taking the fear out of digital for social care managers
Wednesday 8 November I 14:00 – 15:00 I Zoom
This webinar will provide registered managers with support and practical information that can help get them started on their digital journey. Our aim is to help everyone in the sector embrace technology and plan their digital journey, one step at a time. We’ll be joined by a panel of registered managers who will discuss their experiences and share their top tips.
Blogs and articles
Six top tips to support staff retention
Once you’ve recruited the right people, it’s important to keep them. In this article we round up some top tips to help you retain staff and lower turnover.
How we reduced turnover from 92% to 3% in two years
In this blog, Barry O'Driscoll, Registered Manager, Sycamore Lodge, shares how they drastically reduced turnover rates by focusing on a positive culture and values-based recruitment.
Seven ways ASC-WDS can help social care employers
Skills for Care’s Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set (ASC-WDS) has many benefits for employers. We round up all the ways it can help you, from recording training to having your voice heard as part of sector decisions.
Throughout October our #GoodNewsFriday is dedicated to Black History Month, sharing stories from Black women working across social care. In our latest story we hear from Grace Salmon, a retired registered manager and nurse.