Skills North East - The Regional Skills Partnership

You are in
» Sectors - SSCs
» Skills for Care and Devel...

Skills for Care and Development

Skills for Care and Development Regional Contact:

Bob Little, Regional Development Manager (NE)
Skills for Care and Development
Belasis Business Park
Coxwold Way
Billingham
Teeside
TS23 4EA

T: 01670 712317

M: 07815 151957

E: bob.little@skillsforcare.org.uk

http://www.topssengland.net/

Learning and Skills Council Contact: anthea.pratt@lsc.gov.uk

Click here for the Skills for Care and Development North East Fact Sheet

Overview of the Sector in the North East

Brief description of the sector in the North East

Skills for Care and Development is the Sector Skills Council for the social care of adults and children, families and young children.

Social care policy is fully developed in each of the four countries of the UK and the scope of the sector is defined by legislation specific to each country. This has resulted in some differences in the sector footprints and this will continue as different social care services evolve to meet specific needs and the changing legislative frameworks in individual countries.

The current sector footprint in all countries of the UK includes: Children’s homes; Care homes; Domiciliary care and support agencies; Day centres and services; Advocacy groups; Social work; Fostering agencies and services and foster carers; Nurse agencies; and Adoption services.

Additionally, some of the workforces in the following groups are included in some, but not all, of the statutory remits:

Early years
Secure and offender accommodation
Child day care
Education welfare
Child minding
Community justice
Supported housing

In England, Skills for Care and Development are divided into two sections. Skills for Care - the adult care group, which is sponsored by the Department of Health, and the Children’s Workforce Development Confederation (CWDC) sponsored by the DfES. Skills for Care are a well-established part of the Skills for Business Network (SfBN) whereas CWDC are newly emergent and will have a regional structure by spring 2006.

The vast majority of the workforce in the NE is female, with only 15% of employees in the region being male (slightly less than for the sector as a whole 17%).

Many of the employees in the sector are qualified to at least NVQ3, although the proportion at this level in the NE is less than in the sector nationally (42% and 48% respectively). Conversely, a larger proportion of employees in this sector are qualified at NVQ2 than in the sector nationally (36% and 31% respectively). (Regional Fact Sheet 2005)

The proportion of non white workers in this sector in the North East is just 2%, which is significantly less than in England as a whole (9%). (Regional Fact Sheet 2005). The workforce in the North East is a slightly older (48%) than in England as a whole, with almost half (48%) of employees aged 45 years and above compared to nationally (43%). Urban workers tend to be significantly younger than their rural counter parts. (Little 2005)

Key issues facing the sector now and in the future

The forthcoming upward revision of National Minimum Standards (standards for inspection) will impact on the sector. Targets for the proportion of a company's workforce to be qualified at an appropriate level are likely to be hiked from 50% to 60%+.
The inspection requirements for ensuring that staff is qualified to an appropriate level have resulted in a need for additional training and assessment capacity. (Little 2005)
The sector is generally hampered by lack awareness and the benefits of utilising ICT. (Little 2005)

Employment Issues in the North East

Current and forecast recruitment demand

There are 58,413 employees in the sector. Growth is forecasted at 8% between 2002 and 2014. There are 2, 827 workplaces in the sector, of which 40% have 50 or more employees. (Regional Fact Sheet 2005)

Recruitment difficulties and causes

Just over a third (34%) of social care businesses in the North East reported vacancies and this is very similar to the national average of 33%. However, the 16% of companies reporting hard to fill vacancies in the North East is lower than the national average (12%). (NESS 2003).

Some 9% (282) of establishments in the sector report skills shortages in the North East. (Regional Sector Overview 2005).

Retention issues

Retaining staff is a major issue for the sector and the SSC is urgently considering ways to improve both recruitment and retention levels. Currently this includes working with Job Centre + to recruit social workers from overseas, but also encouraging businesses to retain staff through good management and practice. (Little 2005)
Revised Induction Standards have been introduced and this is making a difference in several ways, including reducing the number of staff who leave soon after starting; tying training into the NVQ which makes the gathering of evidence easier; and introducing a learning culture in businesses. (Little 2005)

Attracting people into the sector

The ageing of the social care sector workforce makes targeting young people critical. Initiatives are underway to encourage 6 to19 year olds and potential apprentices to consider the sector and the career pathways that it offers. Co-operation between businesses is being obtained via ‘alliances’, so that the use of funding for recruitment and retention and HR purposes can maximised. (Little 2005)

Workforce Development in the North East

Skills shortages/gaps in existing workforce and latent skills issues

Recent data suggests that 21% (612) of the sector's businesses have skills gaps amongst employees. (Regional Fact Sheet 2005 from NESS 2003)

Specific and general skills gaps exist at all levels in the workforce and are difficult to prioritise. However, some of the more pressing skills requirements are in:

ICT capability
Management and Leadership
NVQ qualified staff in domiciliary care
Basic skills

With respect to the latter, the sector currently employs a large proportion of middle-aged women who were not high school achievers. EQ8 has helped to addressing this with 40% of the funding going to social care, which reflects the severe need for qualifications at elementary levels amongst this workforce. (Little 2005)

There are currently skills shortages for trainers and tutors especially for children related qualifications (Little 2005).

There is also a specific need for non-NVQ training at higher professional levels in the protection of vulnerable adults (POVA) and protection of children from abuse. Additionally Learning Disability and Mental Health sectors both have their own well-established related Vocational qualifications (rVQs) in the Learning Disability Award Framework and the Certificate of Mental Health. The importance of these areas are well recognised and programmes are in development. (Little 2005)

Future skills demand

As the population ages, this impacts enormously on this sector, both in terms of the workforce and the services provided. The future workforce will need to comprise multi-skilled staff at all levels, which undertakes tasks that currently involve several different professionals (such as bathing, caring, + injections, medications. (Little 2005)
There is also a need to develop knowledge and skills sets (KSF) which forms a basis of training on offer e.g. medication, dementia, care training for non care staff, etc. (Little 2005)

Prioritisation of skills issues within the industries

The priority is to address management and leadership skills within the sector, to ensure that a learning culture is in place that enables all other skill needs to be addressed. (Little 2005)
Ensuring that staff is appropriately qualified is also a priority. This will enable benchmark levels to be set and plans to be put in place to monitor future progress. (Little 2005)
Develop the non-NVQ qualifications to meet the specific needs of employers is also a priority. (Little 2005)

Learning and Skills Infrastructure in the North East

There is a good working relationship with most of the training providers in the region. The alliances are helping with this as training that meets the needs of employers, as well as creating volume for the training providers, can now be commissioned. However, one issue which still needs to be addressed is that of outcomes. Individuals, employers and training providers are often good at registering students, but qualifications are often not completed. This is sometimes because the training or assessment can only be done in the workplace (such as bathing),where difficulties can be encountered. (Little 2005)
A lack of suitable training courses appears to be a barrier to undertaking training, particularly in the North East. One quarter of employers in the social care footprint identified this as an issue in the region, compared to only 20% nationally. (Regional Fact Sheet 2005 from NESS 2003)
The SSC has taken part in a HEFCE and LSC study into whether universities were meeting employer needs. This includes investigating issues such as the impact that placements have on the workplace, how employer requirements can be better met and ways that universities can address National Occupational Standards. The SSC is working with universities to create a balance in terms of entry requirements, career ladders, etc.

Relevance and quality of existing provision

The sector is different from others, in that there is an obvious need to move towards more work based training and qualifications. Many aspects of the jobs, such as bathing and caring, cannot be properly learned in a classroom environment. (Little 2005)
The SSC is working with CoVES in the region to specifically to address training issues at Level 3. Centres of Vocational Excellence can be found in FE colleges such as Bishop Auckland, Riverside North Tyneside, and Middlesbrough. (Little 2005)
At professional level, much work is being done to ensure that courses in Social work are more employer-led, with, for example, placements for university students structured to ensure that employer/statutory requirements are met, as well as the university curriculum. (Little 2005)

Barriers to employers accessing the skills provision they need

Nearly all of the firms in the sector in the North East and nationally have provided funding for staff training within the previous 12 months and the majority of staff in NE companies had received training (81%). (Regional Fact Sheet 2005 from NESS 2003)

However, only 17% of companies reported no barriers to training, with the main barrier being lack of funding for training, followed by a lack of suitable courses in the area. (Regional Fact Sheet 2005 from NESS 2003)

Best Practice

To provide workforce intelligence, a database has been commissioned and it is expected that by 2006 the SSC will have data/evidence from every business in the sector. The new National Minimum Data Set will be launched officially in Oct 2005 and the SSC is working closely with LSCs, CSCI and the LAs to ensure that employers only have to provide this information once. (Little 2005)
The SSC has identified around £500k of funding for a learning resource centre network and the rights have been bought to give all of the social care workforce online learning in the North East. Part of the network includes Libraries and Museums services and health NHS organisations that have opened up their learning resources to learners. (Little 2005)
The SSC is working with e-skills to ensure that businesses have much better ICT capability. This will benefit the sector in many ways, such as providing access to e learning, paper free portfolios and other general business improvements. Training in the use of ICTs is also being provided.

References

Little 2005 - Bob Little, Regional Development Officer

______________________________________________

North East Social Care employers respond to national information gathering drive

North East employers involved in social care have rallied to a call for information that will have a dramatic effect on future policies and planning relating to how people are looked after, whether in their own homes - or in residential or nursing care.

The National Minimum Data Set for Social Care (NMDS-SC) is being spearheaded by Skills for Care and covers the whole of England. For the first time a picture of employment in the social care sector, taking in workforce development, skills training and qualifications, funding and career pathways, is obtainable on line to the industry.

Visit www.nmds-sc-online.org.uk

Supporting Documents and Downloads