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Fit for the future? Rethinking the public services workforce Contents

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Chapter 5: Train to retain

168.Alongside boosting recruitment and improving different routes into public services, we heard about how to realise the potential of the current public services workforce, and how to retain skilled, committed public servants.

169.As outlined in Chapter 1, it is likely that the skills needed for public services will shift in the coming years, due to fewer staff being asked to deliver the same or greater levels of services and because of the changing needs of users of public services. The public services workforce needs access to training throughout their careers to enable them to meet these shifting needs.

170.Staff development is key to attracting and retaining staff. ‘Stay interviews’ conducted with individuals in Camden council asked: “what would it take for you to stay?” Joanne Roney reported: “In all cases, it is about an expanded scope of role, or the opportunity for personal and professional development”.291 Demonstrating a culture of learning and development in recruitment messaging would ensure that employers delivering public services can begin as they mean to go on.

New requirements

171.Shifts in the UK’s demographics mean that in some sectors, such as health and care, staff will need new skills to meet the needs of service users. Such challenges are not limited to the increasing issue of multimorbidity: Place2Be, for example, argued that teachers will need to develop a stronger understanding of children’s mental health.292

172.Public services are drawing on digital tools to deliver or design services. As the use of digital tools increases, staff will need to be able to use these tools and better understand where such tools can be used. A need for digital literacy is therefore increasingly important for both staff and service users.293

Retention

173.Improving access to training at different stages of careers is key to retaining staff, as it can support them to gain new skills and experiences and further their careers within a service or sector. This was acknowledged by the Government, with Caroline Pusey referring to the Department for Education’s ‘Early Career Framework’. This is designed to improve access to training in teachers’ early years and “ensures we are investing in [continuous professional development] which we know improves retention.”294

174.Continuous professional development is important for morale and can prevent a situation which Health Education England described where staff, “see themselves as ‘rota fodder’ rather than a future resources to be nurtured”.295

175.Training provision should acknowledge that new job seekers “are coming into a portfolio career world”, in which people move around more in their careers and stay in roles for shorter periods, with the average graduate spending only two and half years in their first job.296 A desire for more flexible careers was highlighted by NHS Providers, who had seen “a growing staff preference for career pathways which do not follow traditional, linear routes”.297

176.Another factor driving staff towards portfolio careers may be bottlenecks in senior staff positions, meaning that if staff wish to develop or progress in their careers, a change in (or expansion of) their existing roles may be necessary.298

177.There is an increasing desire for broad careers in and beyond public services. In order to improve the status of public services, boost staff recruitment and secure better retention, it is essential that the public sector adapts to support these preferences.

Challenges to accessing training and development

Funding

178.Prospect, a civil service trade union, argued that: “cuts to departmental training funds over the past decade have led to a loss of in-depth and in-person continuous training”. They shared challenges faced by different public services bodies, including the UK Health Security Agency, which stated that “when it comes to additional training, let alone refreshers, to maintain your knowledge and enhance your skills then there is not money or appetite for that”.299

179.Alongside a general lack of investment, there appears to be a lack of targeted investment in digital skills training in some sectors. A group of academics from Brunel University London noted that “enhanced digital training up-skills the workforce”, and that there was a constant demand for employees with high-level digital skills. This demand, they said, was often met through recruitment of new staff with the requisite skills rather than by investing in existing staff.300

Culture

180.Evidence suggested an ambivalence about training, with public services providers failing to prioritise it or to see the value of continuous training. The Police Foundations’ Review of Policing in England and Wales emphasised:

“Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is too often viewed as an inconvenient abstraction from duties, rather than an essential investment in the workforce. One recent study characterised police training as ‘transactional’ and ‘reactive’, and as being directed towards immediate problems (such as responding to new legislation), rather than changing the way officers do their job or raising their skill set. Staff surveys show that more officers are dissatisfied than satisfied with the training they receive and Professional Development Review (PDR) processes are typically seen as a ‘bureaucratic exercise’”.301

181.Another cultural barrier to accessing training was a concern that service providers may not benefit from developing staff, due to high turnover. When reflecting on barriers to accessing training, James Zuccollo thought that one key barrier was:

“… the person who pays for it, who is usually your employer, and the time they have to give up, does not get all the benefits, because probably in a year or two you move onto another employer and someone else gets the benefits”.302

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations noted that, “where charities do offer training and development, some report staff taking advantage of this training then moving on to higher paid yet similar roles in local authorities”.303

182.However, since the labour market is becoming more permeable, employers are more likely to benefit from the experience (and the development and training opportunities) that people bring with them from previous roles. If an individual leaves a role but remains in the same sector, or uses their skills to move to another public services sector, there is likely to be a net gain for the public sector as a whole. James Zuccollo noted that “the benefit [of accessing more training throughout careers] for the whole profession, for society … could be greater than the benefit to any one school”.304 Steven Littlewood told us: “You might lose them from social care but you might gain them in the NHS, then they might come back to social care with an extra set of experiences and a different perspective.”305

183.Cultural and financial barriers prevent public services staff from accessing sufficient training and development throughout their careers. The public sector’s approach to training fails on two fronts: it will not retain people and it will not give them the skills they need for the future.

Rethinking development

Broad training

184.Broader training opportunities and potentially joint training between and within public services sectors could support staff development.

185.Joint training could address concerns around silos in public services. Health Education England noted that silos in working can limit the quality of care if staff were not “trained (or allowed) to work across organisational or sector boundaries.”306 Frontline argued that “a period of joint training which takes place before professionals are rooted in their specialisms may support a more joint up approach”, noting existing siloed approaches to supporting children by the police, schools, social workers and health workers.307 When we visited Anglia Ruskin campus we noted that student paramedics took part in joint training with student social workers, student doctors and student teachers. This initial training enables students to understand the broad and varied perspectives of a range of professionals, helping them to grasp ‘the whole picture’.

186.Support for broad training was not universal: the Department for Education argued that there was not significant demand for education professionals to work with other sectors, and there were also concerns that training might be “diluted”.308 This contrasted with calls from Frontline and Place2Be for improvements in joined up training for workers supporting children.309 Frontline wrote:

“Facilitating a period of joint training early on in their careers would support workers from across public services to build strong connections and foster a collaborative approach from the outset. Ongoing opportunities to work and train together will be necessary to maintain these strong multiagency links. It would also provide opportunities for prospective professionals in different areas of public service to learn about their respective roles and develop a shared knowledge of tools and approaches that can achieve the best outcomes for children and families.”310

187.Despite concerns, organisations such as the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health argued that “there are generic areas where more joint training would be valuable” with a focus on leadership, working with the media and financial training.311 Moreover, there are opportunities to gather a range of professionals in a room to view a scenario from different perspectives.

Exploring other roles

188.The University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust provided an example of where supporting staff to pursue flexible careers had benefited the service. They designed an internal transfer programme, offering staff “the opportunity to move to a different ward or clinical speciality in order to share their skills and develop learning.” This resulted in improved retention of staff under 35, who went from making up 35% of all leavers to 26%.312 Secondments were thought by Solace to be especially beneficial for director level and policy teams in local authorities, who could develop a deeper understanding of the wider context of their roles.

189.The value of giving staff the opportunity to explore other roles was highlighted by Wigan Council, who during the pandemic developed a ‘reservist model’, redeploying council staff to frontline roles. The council plans to retain this model, because it boosted the resilience of services and will “provide opportunities to work across directorates and the wider system to build new skills, develop new relationships/partnerships, [and it] generates interests in new careers and the development packages for staff working in team Wigan.”313 The council is also looking to develop secondments to other public sector bodies and partner organisations, an approach advocated for by Place2Be, who suggested that the private sector could support secondments as part of their social value commitments.314

190.Witnesses stressed the value of staff exploring a period of work in another context, including in the private sector. James Darley reflected:

“The public sector needs to be supportive of a portfolio career world. Be open to the fact that people might leave, but, you know what, they come back … , a couple of years ago there were more Teach First-ers [sic] teaching in 2003 than there were in 2005. Many of them had gone away, done some corporate work and had a family, but they were coming back.”315

Stephen Isherwood, Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Student Employers (ISE), a membership organisation for student employers, reflected on civil service fast streamers who had been seconded to the ISE saying he could “see the learning they are taking back into their organisation” following secondment outside of the public sector.316

Accreditation of prior learning

191.It can be challenging for staff to demonstrate their skills in a way that makes sense across the sector, and a lack of accreditation can compromise user trust in services.317 The Government have partially acknowledged this issue, with Health and Care White Paper setting out a plan to develop a ‘Care Certificate’ which would be portable between care services, though it should be noted this does not necessarily translate to recognition in the NHS (this could instead be addressed through an ‘Integrated Skills Passport’—see paragraph 194).318 Ensuring all public services have such frameworks would support staff to develop their careers within and between services and boost user confidence in services.

192.Even where workforces have developed accreditation and recognised qualifications, these are not always recognised outside their current career path. At Anglia Ruskin University (see Appendix 4), we met a physician associate who could take on some responsibilities of a general practitioner, but if she wished to become a GP she would need to undergo six years of training, essentially starting at entry level for the training, as her current qualifications were not transferable. This regulatory barrier makes very little sense: her skills would be eminently transferable. A system in place for recognising and logging previous experience (whether professional or—as in the case of someone who has cared for an older or disabled relative—personal), would also be a logical approach and allow the public sector to make use of the prior experience of new and existing staff. Prospect argued that altering the regulation of certain medical associate professionals and providing greater authority in those roles (for example, prescribing powers) “is now long overdue”.319

193.As noted in Chapter 2, supporting lower-level staff to take on different tasks could increase workforce capacity and mean user needs are identified earlier, as well as supporting their development and potentially increasing retention. We are aware, for instance, that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is considering the expansion of associate roles, such as that of nursing associate which is described as a “stepping stone to becoming a registered nurse”.320

194.The increase in teaching assistants has created a significant number of potential teachers in the education workforce, but this potential seems to be untapped. James Zuccollo noted that: “About a quarter of staff in schools these days are teaching assistants. I think a lot of people hoped that they would go on to become teachers and solve a lot of our problems, but it does not seem to have done that.”321 There appears to be political will to address this, with the then-Schools Minister Robin Walker MP stating that he wanted “a pipeline through which great teaching assistants … can move up into teaching if they choose to.”322

195.There are some initiatives to support more flexible careers through recognition of previous experience. For example, then-Minister for Health, Edward Argar MP said that the DHSC is exploring an Integrated Skills Passport, which would enable health and care staff more easily to move between the NHS, public health and social care.323 This follows similar innovations during the pandemic which allowed nurses more easily to move between settings; however at the time this was not available to allied health professionals.324 While such ‘passporting’ of skills may be welcome, NHS Providers expressed concern that the Government has not set out how it would overcome legal, practical and contractual challenges to implementing such measures.325

196.Prior learning and relevant skills are not adequately recognised within the workforce. This is a result of inflexibility in regulatory models and in training routes; and presents a barrier to development.

197.To boost retention and support staff to progress into more senior roles, the Government should work with regulators to develop straightforward and practicable ways to recognise, assess, and record prior learning and experience using a competency approach. Competencies should be set nationally and quality assured across different employers. They should be truly portable.

198.The Government should prioritise, encourage, and resource the development of more imaginative training, including joint training between services.

199.We encourage the Department for Health and Social Care to build upon the ambitious approach taken with medical degree apprenticeships and to develop further training and development opportunities to better support progression in the social care workforce.

Developing effective leaders

200.Throughout the inquiry the importance of good leadership was stressed. Leaders have a key role in cultivating the workforce through promoting training and development opportunities, empowering staff to deliver services and promoting wellbeing. However, we heard that in certain services leaders were not given the right training and support to lead effectively, and that more needs to be done to cultivate leaders earlier in their careers.

201.When reflecting on how to improve services, James Darley, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Transform Society, emphasised the importance of leadership in transforming public services:

“I am not sure that we necessarily focus enough on leadership, because better leaders will deliver better results. They are the ones who will need to evolve and adapt the way we deliver our public services.”326

202.Evidence indicated a lack of support for leaders and for leadership development training, meaning that public service workers were not always effectively prepared when taking on leadership positions, nor able to access relevant training once in them.

• Bryan McIntosh and his co-contributors argued that in the NHS “leadership development programmes often neglected the tools and techniques that managers needed to identify, address and resolve challenging people issues”.327
• When comparing the support for local authority leaders with other services such as the military, police and civil service, Solace argued there was an “asymmetry in training and development support given to aspiring public services leaders”.328

203.We heard several suggestions for the key skills and characteristics leaders needed to develop:

• Compassion: championing compassion in public services and creating a more compassionate workforce was stressed by witnesses in health and care329 and the police.330 Dr Bryan McIntosh argued that compassionate leadership would mean staff are listened to, supported and understood.331
• Management skills: the Chartered Management Institute argued that good management skills are “key enablers of productivity … unlocking important drivers of growth such as capital investment, technology adoption, on-the-job learning and efficiency improvements”, promoted staff wellbeing and supported low-skilled workers and new entrants in the workplace.332

204.Steven Littlewood argued that the way leadership skills are assessed should be more transferable, to allow for broader career paths for those pursuing leadership roles.333

205.The Government is taking steps to improve leadership development, including through the creation of a ‘Leadership College for Government’,334 which the Government states will incorporate existing programmes delivered by the Civil Service Leadership Academy and the National Leadership Centre. Alongside this, the Government argues that greater training infrastructure will be made available to local authorities through levelling up measures.

206.When developing the Leadership College for Government proposed in the Levelling Up White Paper, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities should gather, promote, and cascade best practice on how public services have developed leadership pipelines, such as in education, law enforcement and local authorities.

Digital tools

207.Digital tools provide an effective way to increase access to training and development opportunities in public services. Online learning can be used to reach large cohorts of staff, in part because it reduces the time and cost of training. The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health said that more local authority staff had been able to access continuous professional development and upskilling due to “the reduction of travel time, travel costs and accommodation costs, especially for staff based at more remote [local authorities].”335 Online learning can be more flexible on an individual level, allowing staff to build training around other time pressures including work and caring responsibilities.336

208.Such training can be effective in keeping skills and knowledge up to date and delivering “bite-sized” learning targeted at the users’ need.337 Adopting digital tools could improve the sharing of best practice within and across sectors. When reflecting on the uptake of online training during the pandemic, the Local Government Association noted that that “benefits of [online training] included greater sharing of ideas and practice between councils across the whole country”.338 Place2Be argued that “online learning offers some great opportunities for connectivity and shared programmes across sectors.”339

209.We saw some excellent examples of digital training on our visit to Anglia Ruskin University. We were introduced to ‘Hemsville’, a ‘virtual community’ built on local authority data. This, we were told, allows students to see macro factors such as the environment, and then to enter into a home to see the micro. Information was provided which allowed students to see behaviours from all perspectives. For example; demonstration of hoarding behaviour would be provided alongside the information that that service user was grieving. There is significant potential for sharing software and other technologies across disciplines. The Council of Deans of Health gave the example of a mannequin replicating childbirth, which could be used by students of midwifery, paramedics and nursing. They also explained that simulated learning can act complementary to face-to-face placements and allow “controlled environments to develop skills across different settings building confidence and expertise for when this is done in person.”340

210.Despite these advantages of digital training, we heard concerns about its quality and accessibility.

(a)Trade union Prospect argued that online training was a “poor relation” to in-person provision and that trainers “often cannot develop the rapport and open communication needed to build and maintain workforce skills and expertise”.341 A common suggestion in evidence, which could address this, was that blended learning (a mixture of in-person and digital learning), was the best route forward.342

(b)FutureDotNow, a coalition of industry leaders, thought that there is a significant digital skills gap within the public service workforce.343 In 2018, the Department for Education, the Tech Partnership and Lloyds Bank developed a baseline for digital skills UK citizens need to live and work, (the Essential Digital Skills Framework).344 The annual Essential Digital Skills benchmark, published by Lloyds Bank, reported that only 58% of public service staff met this threshold in 2021.345

211.The Government should ensure online training is accompanied by training to use digital tools so that public servants have the digital skills needed to access online training. Such training will need to evolve as new technology becomes available and will need to be accessible to people throughout their careers.

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