Memorandum by Skills for Care (PEX 25)
SUMMARY
Skills for Care welcomes the opportunity to
submit evidence to the Health Select Committee's inquiry into
public expenditure and in particular future funding implications
for social care. Our submission will therefore primarily explore
the workforce implications of future funding of social care.
Skills for Care identifies the following six
key issues which we believe will have an impact on the social
care workforce:
— support for systemic and structural reform;
— constrained funding of resources for
training;
— development of social care markets;
— increasing demand—the demographic
impact;
— impact of changes in migration policy;
and
— expectations for improved outcomes.
IMPLICATIONS FOR
THE SOCIAL
CARE WORKFORCE
Introduction
1. Skills for Care, as the Sector Skills
Council for adult social care in England, represents the voice
of some 17,300 organisations involved in adult social care in
England and increasing numbers of direct employers. Our work has
a very significant effect on many of the 1.6 million people employed
in the sector.
2. Skills for Care aims to improve the lives
of people who use services and carers by ensuring that those who
work with adult service users have the best possible training
and qualifications. We help the adult social care sector deliver
the best possible care.
3. We receive grant funding of just over
£13 million for Training Strategy Implementation (TSI) funding
to support employers in workforce development through building
the skill base of their organisation. This funding is applied
in the measured delivery of units of training competences through
our employer network operating at locality and national levels
and through brokerage networks in order to maximise effective
national coverage.
4. We work with employers to gather data
on the social care workforce through our National Minimum Data
Set for Social Care (NMDS-SC) that provides robust evidence for
our analysis of emerging issues for the social care sector. NMDS-SC
and our research projects are designed to create a well trained
workforce capable of meeting the challenges our sector faces.
5. Our New Types of Working and Workforce
Development Strategy help employers and their staff to be innovative
and flexible in order to capitalise on future business development
opportunities.
6. Between 2003 and 2006 we ran the first
phase of our New Types of Worker (NToW) programme which has set
out the direction for the support, training and qualifications
that will be needed by new types of workers. The second phase
has begun and this will spread what has been learned across all
services and across the country.
7. We have a lead role in developing the
new Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) as a simpler, more
flexible way of recognising and rewarding skills and knowledge
in the social care workforce. Once the QCF is introduced in 2010
our Common Induction Standards and Knowledge Sets will be linked
into the framework.
8. Skills for Care's nine supporting employer
network committees contribute to the improvement of social care
through workforce development activities throughout England. Skills
for Care's network committees act as brokers for the funding for
workforce development and training.
9. Network committees also develop partnerships
with employers to help them access and utilise resources available
for social care workforce development in their locality.
10. As the experts on social care workforce
development, we would like to take this opportunity to explore
the workforce implications of the future funding of social care
set with in the context of early indications of the coalition
government's direction of travel for social care strategy. These
implications relate to six core issues which will now be explored
in turn.
Support for systemic and structural reform
11. The social care sector is facing some
of the biggest challenges that it has ever faced, and at a speed
that is unprecedented. However, if correctly managed, it could
result in not only a more integrated and therefore workable system,
but one which offers service users much greater personalised care.
12. We believe that effective change does
not happen without appropriate support and training. Any proposed
changes in service delivery will require a new direction in working
practices, and in turn will necessitate workforce development
activities that will have resource implications for employers.
13. The proposed reform of social care legislation
will require wholesale workforce support and training. This will
have huge implications for employers and training providers in
terms of significantly revising training materials, workforce
development tools and associated resources such as employer's
internal policies and procedures.
Constrained funding squeezing resources for training
delivery
14. Skills for Care is concerned that constrained
funding for social care will negatively impact on employers ability
to deliver workforce development and training, as employers faced
with reduced revenue may be forced to make efficiency savings.
Whilst some may be able to achieve reductions in costs through
tougher procurement and contracting arrangements, as well as reductions
in back office functions and economies of scale, many employers
will only be able to address funding shortfalls by constraining
expenditure on training and development.
15. We believe that it is also likely that
this will have a disproportionate impact on smaller, independent
businesses. This comes at a time when there is an expectation
that there needs to be an expansion of such provision.
16. It is essential that employers continue
to train their workforce to the highest possible standard to ensure
that the best quality care is provided to those who require it.
Development of social care markets
17. The emerging direction of travel for
social care reform encourages a stimulation of local social care
markets, social entrepreneurialism, as well as community and social
capital. We believe that in order to create the conditions in
which such growth can occur, it will require local leadership,
organisation, and investment in development. It is unclear whether
this will exist in circumstances where localities are trying to
deliver social care under ever tightening financial constraints.
18. There is also an existing tension between
emerging social care strategy and economic policy in this area.
As a consequence, it is difficult to see how the necessary diversification
of local social care supply will be realised without market stimuli.
Developing a more flexible and innovative workforce to respond
to new and changing delivery options is just one area where such
marker stimulus is necessary.
Increasing demand—the demographic impact
19. Building on in-depth data collected
through our National Minimum Data Set for Social Care (NMDS-SC),
we predict that the number of paid adult social care jobs in England
could increase from the current 1.54 million to between 2.1 million
and 3.1 million by 2025. Likewise, the number of people working
in adult social care could increase from 1.6 million to between
1.8 million and 2.6 million.[51]
20. Although it may be challenging to increase
the number of the workforce within the context of constrained
funding, we believe that through greater partnership working,
alongside a national recruitment drive, we can not only achieve
a larger workforce, but one which is better trained and more qualified.
Impact of changes in migration policy
21. The Home Secretary recently announced
the temporary limit on the amount of people from outside of the
EU who can work in the UK. The new limit of 5,400 will operate
until March 2011 when a permanent limit comes into effect. Social
care will be one of the worst affected sectors by this cap and
some employers fear that in the short term it could reduce the
social care workforce capacity, affecting the delivery of services
in some areas, and leading to higher prices for services. We believe
that this needs to be considered when determining how best to
increase the size of the workforce.
Expectations for improved outcomes
22. There is an expectation that the increased
demand for greater individual responsibility, choice, and personalisation
of social care will result in higher expectations of quality outcomes.
Additionally, the emphasis on transparency and accountability
of public service delivery will also place greater demands on
service providers being able to demonstrate improved outcomes.
Achieving this transformation will require a skilled, knowledgeable,
and motivated workforce.
23. Our research demonstrates a clear correlation
between the level of training and development, and the delivery
of improved outcomes. However, such achievements can only be delivered
through appropriate investment in workforce development. We believe
that this should be a key priority when formulating policy in
this area.
Conclusions
24. The implications of constrained future
funding of social care will have significant implications on not
just the social care workforce, but also for service users. However,
it is vital that the social care workforce continues to develop
in order to deliver a 21st century social care system.
25. We believe that the sector needs to
see the proposition of a major reform programme as a great opportunity
for the nation, rather than being a problem. Through partnership
working, we believe we can achieve more for less, whilst ensuring
that people who need care receive the best possible care through
a skilled, competent and confident workforce.
26. Skills for Care welcomes the opportunity
of working alongside Government to ensure that the necessary social
care workforce development strategy is in place to ensure that
it will meet the needs of current and future employers.
September 2010
51 Skills for Care, The State of the Adult Social
Care Workforce in England, 2010-the fourth report of Skills
for Care's research and analysis unit. (2010) http://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/soascw Back
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