Public Expenditure - Health Committee Contents


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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