Moves are under way to increase the number of apprenticeships in adult social care and to employ thousands more people in the sector, as part of an England wide strategy to develop a high quality workforce to deliver personalised care and build a national care service.
The Adult Social Care Workforce Strategy aims to boost the status of social care so the sector can attract and retain the brightest and best workers.
Initiatives include:
- increasing the number of apprenticeships by around 1,300
- CareFirst, a scheme to get 50,000 long term unemployed people working in social care. Employers will receive a subsidy of £1,500 to take on trainees aged between 18 and 24
- targeting groups that have not traditionally taken up careers in social care
- establishing a new national management trainee scheme to encourage graduates and top quality executives to move into the sector
- a new voluntary registration scheme for home care workers from April 2010 to help safeguard people who use services and improve quality
- developing more social care awards to raise the status of working in the sector, and to recognise the contributions made by individuals already working in social care
- more support for newly qualified social workers in their first year.
The strategy provides a framework for local authorities with responsibility for transforming services to develop the workforce to the scale and standards needed to meet the requirements of transforming adult social care.
Six themes underpin the strategy, they are:
- leadership
- recruitment, retention and career pathways
- workforce remodelling and commissioning
- workforce development
- joint and integrated working
- regulation
Approximately 1.5 million people work in adult social care in a variety of roles, with over two thirds in the private and third sectors.
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