2007 DoH Collaborative Recruitment Solutions in Social Care - Getting and Keeping Your Workforce

8/3/2019 2007 DoH Collaborative Recruitment Solutions in Social Care - Getting and Keeping Your Workforce

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DH INFORMATION READER BOX

DEPARTMENT OF

HEALTH STAT BOX


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Foreword

There is no doubt that the domiciliary care sector isfacing new challenges. People are living longer and

want to stay in their own homes as long as possible.

The government is just as keen to help them retain

their independence. But to do this, older people

and other vulnerable people with learning or

physical disabilities need care and support. This is

a very labour intensive sector; if we do not tackle

the staffing challenge now, homecare services are

going to be seriously affected in the future.

This report looks at what individual organisationsare doing to address homecare recruitment and

retention. It highlights the importance of

collaboration across statutory and non-statutory

providers in a fragmented sector where many small

organisations struggle to compete. Case studies

explain how collaboration in various guises can offer

a range of benefits and meet specific objectives.

The report outlines ways employers have successfully

overcome barriers to recruitment, sometimes by taking

a fresh approach to existing activities. A traditionally

limited labour pool can be expanded by targeting

younger people, overseas workers and marginalised

groups. But attracting workers is only part of the

challenge keeping them can be just as hard.

Turnover of domiciliary care staff is 75% in some

areas. So the report looks at how to make workers

feel valued and stop leakage of new recruits.

What many of these examples show is that thesimplest actions, like revising application forms,

can make a big difference. And because they are

drawn from real initiatives, they dont ignore

potential obstacles. Instead the report identifies

realistic ways around perceived barriers, such as

the need for homecare workers to be mobile,

or restrictions on employing under-18s.

The report also addresses common underlying

issues, such as securing funding for sustainable

initiatives, and getting the level of buy-in requiredto make real changes. Its about being flexible and

appreciating the potential scale of future problems.

Only then can employers begin to invest the

necessary time, thought and resources into

adopting more innovative approaches now.

These initiatives may not suit every homecare

provider. Some, particularly efforts to make

domiciliary care a more attractive career option,

will take time to reap rewards. But this varied

range of proactive and positive approaches is well

worth sharing, and will save other organisations from

starting from scratch. And it is a comforting reminder

that you are not alone in facing the challenge.

Ivan Lewis MP,

Minister for Social Care


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Increasing the pool

Attracting young people

Recruiting from marginalised

communities

International recruitment

Promoting retention

Training

Career pathways

Increasing job satisfaction

Financial incentives

Factors to consider

Funding

Staffing resources

Wide-ranging support

Communication

Obstacles

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Conclusion...................................................................................44Appendix.....................................................................................45

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Chap

ter1

Introduction

Background About this report

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Introduction

The aim of this report is to help tackle workforce

recruitment and retention problems across the

whole social care industry by highlighting examples

of good practice where a collaborative approach is

proving effective. There is a strong focus on

domiciliary services, where severe difficulties are

making it hard to increase current capacity in line

with demand and are likely to impede the

development of essential services in the future.

Since nearly 70% of domiciliary care is nowdelivered by independent organisations, there is

emphasis within the report on examples of

collaborative working across statutory and non-

statutory sectors that have resulted in mutually

supportive and effective strategies for workforce

recruitment, retention and development.

The intention is to disseminate information about

the various initiatives and strategies and about

effective joint working in a range of different ways

to ensure that schemes can be replicated without

having to start from scratch and that the learning is

available to help others setting up schemes.

Background

The growing need for social care

Government policy over the last 12 years has been

to support people in their own homes and in the

community wherever possible, leading to

considerable expansion of some social care services

such as domiciliary care. This has been at the cost oflosing or reducing capacity in other services such as

residential and nursing homes which, for the first

time, have been required to limit their services onthe basis of needs assessments.

The number of hours of domiciliary care delivered

in a typical week more than doubled between 1992

and 2003, reaching 3.4 million hours per week.

Approximately 700,000 people a year now receive a

domiciliary service, compared with fewer than half

that number in care homes.

There is still pressure from the government to

increase the proportion of people supported at

home. New targets are for social services to focus at

least 34% of all older peoples services expenditureon home-based support by 2008. The 2006 White

Paper Our health, our care, our say,1

with its

increased emphasis on choice and control for service

users, will mean even more demand for home-based

care.

Staffing demands

Domiciliary care, and all forms of care that support

people in their homes and in their communities, are

staff intensive. Far more people with mental health

problems or learning disabilities now live in the

community. Social care support services, expanded

since 2003 as a result of the Supporting People

programme to help vulnerable people live

independently, are likely to be drawing on the same

pool of potential staff as domiciliary care providers.

The direct payment scheme of cash payments

made in lieu of social service provision to individuals

who have been assessed as needing services, is

predicted to grow and may lead to further demands

for staff. At this stage it is uncertain, however,whether the result will be a shift in workforce from

formal domiciliary care organisations to working

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individually, or whether the one-to-one

employer/employee relationship will draw in new

staff resources (including family members). Possibly

both of these will result since domiciliary providers

already report that they are losing staff to people

who have moved over to direct payment

arrangements.

Funding arrangements

Recent evidence suggests that funding shortfalls

may be beginning to impact on demand,demonstrated by a reduction in the number of care

packages for older people between 2003/04 and

2004/05.2

In residential care services, home owners

report increasing referrals of more complex cases. It

is likely that the real explanation is tightening

eligibility and the concentration of available

resources on intensive care packages. Nevertheless

many authorities are sending out warning signals

that settlement levels and the capping of council tax

may lead to severe cuts in domiciliary care services

and fewer residential placements in the future.

Future capacity

There are real questions about future capacity which

need addressing urgently. The Department of Health

(DH) has taken the lead on this with a number of

different initiatives over the last few years. The DH

has commissioned research3

on attitudes to social

work and social care and their image as potential

careers and funded a 1.5m social care recruitment

campaign. Despite a good response to the

campaign, anecdotal evidence is that relatively few

recruits have chosen to work in domiciliary care,

probably because guaranteed full-time work is rarely

on offer and because the pressure to work in the

early mornings and late evenings, with little work

available during the day, has proved unattractive.

The national framework to support local

workforce strategy development,4

introduced by the

DH in 2005, and other national initiatives are

intended to stimulate innovative approaches to the

productive use of available workforces in bothhealth and social care.

Demographics

Government policy has undoubtedly led to increased

demand for social care, but demographic shifts also

contribute to the need for growth in capacity.

Growing numbers of older people,5

and particularly

those in the 80 and over age group, where

dependency levels are known to rise sharply, are

already having an impact on demand.

In the future this trend towards an older

population is likely to create huge pressure to

provide additional services, though possibly this maybe mitigated slightly by the development of

alternative forms of support like telecare and

assistive technology. Expected increases in the

average life expectancy of people with learning

disabilities6

will also add to pressures.

While the proportion of older people in the

population is increasing, there is both a

proportionate and real reduction in people of

working age.7

There are worrying predictions of a

growing gap between demand for home care and

other community-based services and a dwindlingsupply of people to provide these services.

Particularly alarming is the tentative projection8

that

at current patterns of care and recruitment, by 2014

the supply of homecare workers will have dropped

by 4% while demand will have risen by 18%. The

UK Home Care Association9

has reported a

reduction in the number of recruits compared with

an earlier study,10

which may indicate that the gap is

already opening up.

The social care environment

Since 1993 social care services have operated within

both a market managed by local authorities social

services departments and a context of assessment of

needs. The imposition of eligibility criteria was

intended to reduce markedly the demand for care

home places, replacing them with services to

support people at home. Effective management of

the market was expected to result in increasing

availability of home care, lowering or holding down

costs, and improvements in quality as organisationscompeted for business.

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It was thought that some of the increase in home

care availability would result from care homes

diversifying into home care and other community-

based services, with their staff transferring relatively

effortlessly to the different roles. This proved not to

be the case but over the next few years large

numbers of new organisations entered the market in

response to growing opportunities.

With no barriers to entry and the ease with which

staff could then be attracted, service provision

rapidly became exceptionally fragmented. Despitesome consolidation and a reduction in the number

of providers with whom local authorities are willing

to contract, this remains the case. There are around

4,700 domiciliary care providers now registered with

the Commission for Social Care Inspection, many of

them very small.

The role of the independent sector

The independent sector traditionally offered very

flexible services and also the opportunity to work

flexibly. On the other hand, in domiciliary care, itcould not guarantee work and tended to pay only

for actual contact time that the care worker spent

with the service user. Independent organisations also

operated as agents to introduce individual service

providers to users who could directly purchase the

service themselves or obtain the funding from

charitable or other sources.

Initially, choice offered by the governments policy

for care in the community was widely interpreted as

the choice to remain at home and, with little in the

way of eligibility criteria and generous budgets,

extensive support was available in many authorities.

Since there was no charging, the private market for

home care was unable to compete and virtually

disappeared. Independent organisations became,

and have largely remained, over-dependent on

single, powerful local authority purchasers.

So effective have local authorities proved at

managing the market that independent providers

have found it difficult to obtain prices reflecting the

greater costs associated with building the moreprofessional, reliable and available workforces

needed for large-scale contracted service supply.

Both the pay and terms and conditions of people

working in the independent social care sector are

markedly poorer than for those working in the

statutory sector.11

The competition for recruits

Relative economic prosperity and almost full

employment in many areas mean that social care

services are competing with many other

opportunities for full and part-time employment forwomen. In some areas this has meant that

employers have had to offer annual pay increases

far higher than inflation. Services are still largely

staffed by women although male recruits appear to

be more readily accepted for support posts. The

Commission for Social Care Inspection reports that

vacancy rates in social care are higher than for all

other employment sectors in England.12

Training requirements

Much of social care is now regulated, including bothcare homes and domiciliary care. Regulation has

brought with it the requirement for workforce

qualifications such as NVQs, which should, over

time, lead to a more competent and professional

workforce. Although training is an attraction to

many people coming into social care, some 25% of

care workers are known to be women aged 50 and

over and among this group there is significant

resistance to being required to train.13

Many have

already left the industry, even though employers

have tended to regard their older workers as less

likely to be among the 50% required to have NVQ

level 2 by 2008 and taken a more relaxed view

about registering them for NVQs.

By 2007 all care workers in domiciliary services

will be required to register with the General Social

Care Council. While in the long term this may help

to raise the status and quality of this form of social

care work, it will immediately increase pressure for

the whole workforce to acquire qualifications and

may well be regarded as yet another hurdle.

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About this reportThis study was commissioned by the National Older

Peoples Programme of the Care Services

Improvement Partnership (formerly the Department

of Health funded Change Agent Team), in response

to a growing awareness that the development and

commissioning of diverse, innovative and high

quality services was being impeded by the lack of

staff to run them. CSIP is indebted to Lucianne

Sawyer CBE* for her extensive research and for the

first draft of this report; and also to Pauline Spencerwho helped gather and check the evidence. In

addition, the National Homecare Council, which

represents local authority provided and

commissioned home care services, contributed to

the early scoping of the project.

Information about recruitment initiatives and the

extent of collaboration was mainly gathered through

a survey of all local authorities with social services

responsibilities, strategic health authorities, primary

care trusts, Skills for Care regional offices and

Workforce Confederation regional committees.Additional projects were identified from published

reports and articles, through responses to the letter

sent to key stakeholders introducing this project and

via a variety of other leads and introductions. In

total around 90 organisations provided information

at this initial stage.

Of these, 30 organisations were selected, based

on who their project was targeting, how much

collaboration was involved and what strategies they

had adopted, and asked for more details from a

nominated contact. A semi-structured questionnaire

was used for these interviews to ensure comparable

and complete information was collected from each

site. Other people and organisations also involved in

the project were contacted for their views on some

of the initiatives and independent domiciliary care

employers questioned about their experience in

developing appropriate workforces and the extent

to which they felt that initiatives in their area had

helped. Researchers and others working in the field

of workforce development also gave their views.

Note that the terms domiciliary care, home care

and home-based care are used interchangeably.

Where services or staff are described as in-house

this refers specifically to directly provided statutory

social care services.

Good practice?

It is not easy to say with certainty whether the many

initiatives and innovative approaches to recruitment

outlined in this report are really contributing to

improvements in recruiting and retaining social care

staff. For one thing, much of the work, such as

raising the profile of social care, is long-term

investment rather than offering immediate impact.

Many of the projects were relatively new and most

had not been formally evaluated at the time the

information was gathered for this report. Inaddition, recruitment success varies geographically

depending on a number of external factors, so what

is successful in one area may not work elsewhere.

Nevertheless, this report covers a variety of

proactive, positive and exciting approaches that

others may find interesting and helpful in improving

workforce recruitment and retention. Contact details

are included so you can talk to the people involved

about their experiences in more detail, and whether

their projects are proving successful.

Some organisations are responsible for a number of

initiatives referred to in different sections of the report.

These are not cross-referenced because although part

of an overall recruitment strategy, individually they are

approaches that work on their own.

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* Lucianne Sawyer, CBE, president of the United Kingdom

Home Care Association


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Our health, our care, our say: a new direction for

community services

Department of Health Stationery Office 2006

Referrals, assessments and packages of care

Department of Health 2005

Perceptions of social work and social care

Department of Health/COI 2001

National framework to support local workforce strategy

developmentDepartment of Health 2005

National Statistics website http://www.statistics.gov.uk

Estimating future needs/demands for support for adultswith learning disabilities in England

Institute for Health Research 2004

The state of social care in England 200405

Commission for Social Care Inspection 2005

Philip Mickelborough at Laing and Buissons 2005

Home Care Conference

Who cares now? UK Home Care Association 2004

Who cares? UK Home Care Association 2001

Joseph Rowntree Foundation - various research findings

The state of social care in England 200405

Commission for Social Care Inspection 2005

Who cares now? UK Home Care Association 2004

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Notes

One problem at present is the turnover of

care workers chasing slightly higher wages

being offered by another provider. They go

round and round

Recruitment and retention project officer

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Chapter2

Large-scale collaboratives Partnership working

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Working together can be a worthwhile approach torecruitment, even if the organisations involved could

be seen as competing with each other for staff.

Collaboration can take many forms. It may be a

formal agreement between a number of large

organisations within a geographical area or a close

partnership between smaller bodies, such as a local

authority and an employer.

Collaborative approaches are especially helpful in

reaching disparate groups of people, for example, to

raise the profile of social care careers among

potential recruits of all ages. They offer practicalbenefits such as shared budgets and resources.

Different organisations may be able to offer diverse

experiences, knowledge and skills.

This chapter looks at some specific examples of

how large-scale collaboratives and partnership

working between authorities and private employers

can operate.

Large-scale collaboratives

There are large-scale collaboratives working in a

number of areas, involving several authorities,

independent providers and other organisations.

Geographically these collaboratives are frequently

based on the sub-regions of the national body Skills

for Care, which works on behalf of social care

employers to enhance the quality of staff and

services in social care.

In some cases it is the extent of collaboration

across health and social care, rather than across

local authority boundaries, which is effectivelydelivering the range of initiatives that are

characteristic of larger groupings.

There appear to be clear advantages from large-scale collaboratives in terms of the pooling and cost-

effective use of resources, the potential for sharing

ideas and the opportunities to improve

communication and relationships across borders and

across sectors.

CASE STUDIES

The Black Country Partnership for Care

The Black Country Partnership for Care (BCPC)

originated with authorities in Dudley, Walsall and

Wolverhampton in response to concerns about theability of providers to meet NVQ targets within the

required timescale. As a result, the partnership

worked with the Learning and Skills Council (LSC)

to develop a joint training programme, for home

care staff in the independent sector to achieve

NVQ2 in care.

The BCPCs second initiative aimed to tackle the

sectors inability to attract care staff. Through Skills

for Care an employers group was formed which

linked with Jobcentre Plus. A subsequent bid for LSC

European Social Fund (ESF) funding led by Sandwell

set up a project to recruit people who had been out

of the workforce for some time and were new to

care. It placed emphasis on recruiting people from

deprived backgrounds.

Providing support and pre-employment training

has successfully attracted recruits to the care sector.

The initial training and recruitment initiatives

continue and new initiatives have developed as

needs have been recognised.

BCPC is now the sub-regional employerpartnership of Skills for Care in the west midlands

region. Independent providers from all four areas are

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fully engaged. Members of the BCPC board include:

employers

training providers

the LSC sector skills manager

local authority HR departments

the COVE (Centre for Vocational Excellence)

a health representative

This collaborative is seen as very successful by both

the statutory sector initiators and by independent

employers. It is pulling people together and leadingto other projects. One big advantage is the potential

for sharing resources one project manager for the

whole training project over four local authority

areas, and a full-time workforce development

coordinator and administrator for the recruitment

and other initiatives.

Contact: Andrew Packer

E-mail: [email protected]

Phone: 01384 813131

The Quality Care PartnershipThe Quality Care Partnership is made up of four

authorities, Rotherham, Sheffield, Doncaster and

Barnsley, the local Learning and Skills Council (LSC),

Skills for Care and independent employers. Its board

is employer-led but includes representatives from the

other key organisations. Of the 600 independent

providers in South Yorkshire, 400 are members.

Initiatives developed through the Quality Care

Partnership include:

workforce planning

the Future Carers training programme

Ambition Health a two-year programme for

NVQ3 candidates.

One of the advantages of the collaborative is that it

effectively divorces workforce and training issues

from more contentious issues such as fees. Providers

value the support they receive with recruitment and

workforce development. The collaborative has

helped build good relationships among the various

organisations and trust between authorities andproviders.

Contact: Trevor Hewitt


Phone: 01226 772378

East Riding Yorkshire Multi-Agency

Workforce Collaborative

The collaborative came about through fears that

without a more proactive approach the skills the

local authority would need to commission from the

independent sector might not be there in the future.

The intention was to create opportunities for

independent employers to join in open, frank andpurposeful discussion of social care staffing

problems among all partners. Some of these

organisations had previously felt they were in

adversarial relationships.

The collaborative is chaired by the local authority

and brings together a range of interests including

employers, the NHS, training providers and the

Sector Skills Council. It has led to investment in a

number of activities to support recruitment.

For example:

independent providers are offered some shortcourse training on a par with the statutory sector

the Council has been instrumental in

coordinating a pilot investment in free distance

learning

events have been organised to support schools

delivering vocational courses

Job Centre advisors have been updated on

opportunities in social care

Contact: Jeff Wheelwright


Phone: 01482 802415

Contact: Jo Shores


Phone: 01482 391164

Health and social care in Cheshire

In Cheshire collaboration between health and social

care authorities has resulted in a proactive approach

to workforce development, with strategic

management, primarily between Cheshire County

Council social services and NHS trust managers,recognising many shared issues.

Strategic planning across health and social care is

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beginning to happen. The county council has

appointed a senior officer to liaise with health

colleagues and organisations, while the strategic

health authority has funded three posts, one in each

locality, to promote joint workforce development.

The Cheshire sub-region of the North West Sector

Skills and Productivity Alliance is identifying policy

drivers and ways to optimise available resources.

The range of initiatives which have resulted from

this collaboration include:

careers development cadet/trainee programmes

specialist diploma development

supported training programmes

supporting employers in provision of entry level

NVQs (LSC-funded)

an employment charter on employment

opportunities for people with mental health

problems

international partnerships

liaison with Jobcentre Plus

job fairs, job shops, events and careers promotion changes to recruitment procedures

role redesign and enhanced duties to make home

care more attractive to potential applicants.

A reference group across health and social care

meets regularly to share information, developments

and workforce issues.

Contact: Colin Ashcroft


Phone: 07957 140384

Partnership working

Some authorities are beginning to work in real

partnership with local employers, recognising each

others problems and working together to reach

solutions. Some partnership work is directly

concerned with recruitment and workforce issues. In

other cases, although the focus might not be quite

so clear-cut, there are obvious benefits in terms of

recruitment or retention outcomes. As some ofthese examples show, supporting independent

providers can happen in all sorts of ways.

CASE STUDIES

Improving commissioning in Trafford

Twelve local employers are actively involved with

Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council through the

Trafford Homecare Improvement Partnership.

Together they have developed a quality assurance

framework against which services can be monitored.

Performance-related commissioning has been

introduced based on this framework and an

enhanced rate for quality providers agreed.

The commissioning officer role has been evaluatedand contacts made at operational level, formalised

by using a standard pro-forma to record issues and

solutions for both commissioning officers and home

care providers.

The authority reports that as a result of these

changes:

the workforce has been stabilised

intensive home care packages have increased

by 62%

there is a growing trend for independent providers

to recruit permanent staff and to appoint seniorhome care workers

communication between commissioners and

providers has improved considerably

the quality of home care has improved

the commissioning process has strengthened

the home care market has stabilised.

Contact: Linda Harper,

Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council


Phone: 0161 9121890

Cambridgeshire workforce development

Cambridgeshire, along with many other English

counties, has experienced problems with recruiting

and retaining staff within the social care sector.

Some employers had vacancy rates of up to 20-30%

and relied upon agencies to provide temporary staff

cover. In order to address this issue a partnership has

developed between the county council and local

employers. Norfolk, Suffolk and CambridgeshireSHA, the independent sector, Jobcentre Plus and

Connexions are also part of the project.

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The councils workforce development team, which

forms a part of the Disability Service, provides and

arranges training for all staff, regardless of who

employs them. The staff concerned provide social

care services for people with learning difficulties,

physical disabilities and/or sensory impairment.

The independent sector and the department have

also worked together via a training consortium to

address training issues and to provide cost-effective

and collaborative ways of providing training.

A social care careers project was established bythe County Council and the SHA, led by a careers

adviser, in order to address recruitment and

retention issues. As a result, the following projects

have been established and are now in the process of

development:

care ambassadors (staff who visit schools and

colleges in order to promote career opportunities

in social care and to enhance the work-related

curriculum)

developing local job role profiles

training mainstream careers advisers structured work shadowing for adults

a contact for members of the public interested in

social care careers

the development of a careers matrix.

Contact: Adrian Key, Social Care Careers Adviser:


Phone: 07765023882

For information about the Training Consortium

Contact: Jim Thomas, Workforce Development

Manager


Phone: 07766441810 or 01223 718291

Supporting employers in Manchester

Manchester City Council has recognised that

providers may not have the resources to deal with

personnel problems. The council offers licensed legal

support through a specialist employment law

consultancy at a cost per provider of 250 pa.

For this they get: policy and practice updates

vetting of HR paperwork, such as contracts

a 24/7 helpline for advice on disciplinary, sickness

and holiday matters

a tribunal service.

The authority uses the HR development grant to

fund this initiative. It gives providers more

confidence, enables them to nip personnel problems

in the bud and also makes staff feel more valued.

Contact: Gillian Bennett


Phone: 0161 2196787

Capacity building in Gloucestershire

The ethos and operation of Gloucestershires

Capacity Building Project, developed following a

strategic review of future home care needs, was

geared towards partnership working and included

many recommendations to address local employers

problems. An inter-agency workforce development

group focuses on developing the private and

voluntary sector.

A domiciliary care forum meets every two monthsand there are more frequent locality meetings. An

independent employer sits on the Capacity Building

Project board and employers have been involved in

discussions about issues like the restructuring of the

in-house service and caseload sizes.

The project has resulted in:

An allocation of part of the HR development grant

to pump prime contracted providers workforces

through improved pay rates and training

Under new contracts, rural areas attract a slightly

higher unit price to take account of increased

travel and time costs.

A system which ensures that providers receive very

prompt payments for a percentage of care

delivered

Joint programmes being developed around

particular areas such as medication management

A profile raising group using the councils media

team to feed human interest stories to the local

media, thereby promoting contracted providers

Mechanisms to put people interested in social carework in direct contact with providers.

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Recruitment remains very difficult in

Gloucestershire but there are real hopes that these

measures will pay off over the longer term and in

the meantime there is strong commitment to

greater openness and improved communication

which, it is hoped, will lead to a more efficient work

environment.

Contact: Julie Walters


Phone: 01452 425131

or Contact: Bron WilliamsE-mail: [email protected]

Phone: 01452 425180

Involving service users in Somerset

In Somerset partnership working includes service

users. As part of a move to make the domiciliary

service more user-centred, a group of service users

older people and people with physical disabilities

were involved in placing new contracts, including

taking part in interviews with potential providers.

The authority has built on its network of serviceusers and carers, strong relationships with providers

and a long history of collaborative working.

An industry group started a number of years ago

has been revamped and renamed as Care Focus

Somerset Partnership; it no longer focuses solely on

training but also covers wider workforce issues such

as recruitment and retention. All the relevant

organisations were involved in the planning and are

part of the partnership and, although this made the

process slower, it was seen as a worthwhile exercise.

Contact: Miriam Maddison


Phone: 01823 356631

What do care staff want?

All of the foregoing emphasises the challenges that

face the purchasing authorities and their providers

and the importance of working in partnership.

As well as having a clear view of future needs,

successfully increasing the volume of care which is

going to be needed will depend on taking into

account what makes this type of work attractive to

people and why they choose to remain in the

industry, providing the vital life-blood of the service.

Research has shown that what domiciliary staff

generally like about the job is:

the ability to forge good relationships with service

users and being appreciated by them

being able to respond flexibly to the needs and

preferences of users and to use their own initiative

having their views taken into account by thosewho are making decisions about service users or

about how the service is provided

working in a team

good management support and being valued by

managers

good training

development and career opportunities.

What they often dislike is:

job insecurity

work, or amount of work, not guaranteed pressure to work at non-social times

short visits

not being paid for time spent travelling between

service users

split shifts with work often required in the early

morning and late evening

poor pay and terms and conditions

perceived low status of social care work.

Many of these attitudes may be shared by people

working in other areas of social care.

Although some of these factors will depend on

individual providers and the way in which they run

their organisations, many of them cannot be

achieved by providers on their own. The way in

which services are commissioned and the contracts

under which they are provided will also influence

the nature of the job and the terms and conditions

on offer to care staff. Examples of this are provided

throughout this report.

19


20/49

Cha

pter3

Developing a workforce strategy

Raising the profile of social care

Communication tosupport recruitment

20


21/49

Overcoming barriers to recruitment may be a matterof taking a more innovative approach to traditional

activities rather than introducing something entirely

new.

This chapter looks at key steps in recruitment,

including:

developing a workforce strategy

raising the profile of social care

communication to support recruitment.

Developing a workforce strategyDeveloping a workforce strategy needs to start with

a thorough workforce analysis, looking at the local

situation within the context of national data. Some

authorities have recognised this critical building

block and thought carefully about how to obtain

the most complete picture possible of their area.

As well as ensuring that workforce projections are

as accurate as possible, there were reports that

some independent providers reviewed and changed

their recruitment strategies in the light of national

data.

Any strategy should also recognise potential

barriers to recruitment. For instance, Criminal

Record Bureau (CRB) checks are creating difficulties

everywhere. People who apply for jobs in social care

are usually in the position of needing to start

earning money relatively quickly. Having to wait up

to nine weeks for CRB clearance can be a major

disincentive. Often potential recruits have moved on

to other jobs by the time their clearance comes

through, leaving employers to cover the costs ofrecruitment, the CRB check, and at least part of

the induction.

CASE STUDIESWorker appointed to help independent

sector

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council realised that

they could not get a complete picture without

assessing the present and future workforce across

both the in-house and independent sectors. This

proved difficult because the range and quality of the

data held by the different players were extremely

varied. Data were more readily available for the in-

house service. Through the Quality Care Partnership,

which extends across four South Yorkshireauthorities, they have now appointed a worker to

assist the independent sector in collecting and

collating workforce data including skill shortages

and projected future needs. This information will

feed into the regional Skills for Care network and

form part of the national census as well as into

Barnsleys workforce planning and strategy.



Tel: 01226 772378

Annual review of data

The Black Country Partnership for Care , supported

by the Learning and Skills Council, has

commissioned the collection of workforce data from

independent sector employers. This review is now

repeated annually by the Partnership. There is

currently a project to implement the National

Minimum Data Set across the Black Country led by

BCPC.

Contact: Andrew PackerE-mail: : [email protected]

Tel: 01384 813131

21

3Approaches torecruitment


22/49

IT support for small providers

Manchester City Council has recognised that if the

workforce situation is to be resolved, technology

needs to play its part. The council has provided local

employers with computers, where necessary, and

personnel software, and given them training so that

they can collect data in a form most useful to the

council. This is also seen as helpful to small providers

that may not be IT aware. The approach is expected

to greatly improve communication and has also

helped take forward another initiative, the settingup of a care vacancy site.



Tel: 0161 219 6787

Raising the profile of social care

Attempts to raise the profile of social care careers

need to take into account what makes this type of

work attractive to people and why they choose to

remain in the industry. It helps to keep these factorsin mind when planning how to provide services and

attract, recruit and develop a suitable workforce.

The research into what domiciliary staff generally

like about the job was listed on p.XX.

There is certainly a need for social care to have a

higher profile. But efforts in this direction should be

sustained and fairly substantial if there is to be a real

impact. Independent employers are very unlikely to

be able to engage in effective profile-raising

activities on their own since they will probably not

have the necessary resources, and a collaborative

approach is therefore important.

Although in some cases the impact of an initiative

can be seen quite quickly through an increase in job

applications, the real value of raising the profile of

social care may only be apparent over a much

longer term as the idea of working in social care

gradually becomes part of the normal spectrum of

potential job opportunities.

CASE STUDIES

Using multi-media

Oxfordshire County Council has used a multi-media

campaign to raise awareness of the potential for

working in social care, including:

local radio and television

the local press

advertisements on buses

information in community halls, doctors surgeries

and libraries

details at Jobcentre Plus and job fairs.

Numbers of applicants have increased tenfold with

this approach. Local radio has proved particularly

effective. There is a link from the council website

directly to local contracted employers who can

provide information on their own employment

opportunities.

Contact: Joan Chattey


Tel: 01865 815774

Highlighting real roles

Cambridgeshire County Council has produced locally

focused career materials, which feature job roles

across the social care sector. Each profile displays

photographs of the staff concerned, and features a

description of the job written by the member of

staff being profiled. This information is now widely

available throughout the county to young people

and adults, and will hopefully encourage them to

consider a career in social care.

Contact: Adrian Key, Social Care Careers Adviser

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 07765 023882

Educating job centre staff

Sheffield City Councils locality manager has given

talks about the social care sector to job centre staff.

The council offers pre-employment training for

potential applicants followed by four-week work

placements shadowing existing staff, during which

CRB checks are carried out.The council also successfully promotes social care

jobs through local cinema advertising that runs

3 | Approaches to recruitment

22


23/49

before the main feature. The cost is nominal and the

long-running campaign gives a hotline number for

further information. All initiatives carry the strap-line

What do you do in the mornings?

Contact: Helen Rowe,

locality manager Care4You Service


Phone: 0114 203 7107

Communication tosupport recruitment

Different methods of communication have a part to

play both in raising the profile of the sector and

recruiting to specific job vacancies. It is important to

have well-designed and attractive recruitment

literature that can come in many forms, from small

eye-catching ideas to more detailed explanatory

information.

Advertising offers the most direct approach to

attract new recruits; the majority of care workers

find their job through newspaper or otheradvertisements.

14

Advertising may be another area of collaboration

for authorities, particularly because it can be

relatively cheap when done through the council

website. It is possible to provide a direct link fromthe authoritys website into organisations that

provide social care services on a block basis.

Advertising can be very costly so it is important

that expenditure is as cost-effective as possible.

Advertisements and any specific recruitment

literature must be appealing and relevant to the

target audience or could end up a waste of money.

The response people get when they enquire about

care work whether as a result of advertising or

anything else is also critical, and some authorities

have taken action to ensure that all calls are dealt

with in a positive and helpful way.

Sometimes employers feel they have noalternative but to continue advertising even if they

dont get a good response.

But there are other approaches, such as job fairs.

These need to be big and varied to attract people.

Local employers may find that their own attempts to

put on such events are ineffective, but have

reservations about events where they are competing

with in-house providers who are in a position to

offer much better terms and conditions. And

organisations which provide a service within a very

local area could find that large centralised events donothing to assist their recruitment problems.

It is worth remembering that every local authority

has its own website, which can potentially be used

as a recruitment tool, featuring specific vacancies as

well as more general careers information.

CASE STUDIES

Library link-up

Cambridgeshire County Council has joined with the

local library service to produce a bookmark available

free from all libraries. One side of the bookmark

carries details of library opening times and related

information while on the reverse is a message about

careers in the care sector. It also gives the phone

number for a contact centre so anyone interested

can request an information pack or talk to someone

about career opportunities.

Contact: Adrian Keys


Phone: 077650 23882

Careers guide

East Riding of Yorkshire Council, on behalf of the

23

People with qualifications

are starting to choose where

they want to work but terms

and conditions, especially

wages and annual leave, are

the main factors.Organisations which pay the

highest wages get the better

choice of applicants.

Workforce development officer


24/49

Multi-Agency Workforce Collaborative, has

produced an attractively designed guide to careers

in social care, social work and healthcare. It outlines

job roles, provides a useful qualification grid and

suggests ways into different career routes. The guide

features illustrated examples of people currently

working in social care and the jobs they do. This has

now been complemented by a professionally

produced DVD targeted at young people

considering a career in social care.

Contact: Jeff WheelwrightE-mail: [email protected]

Phone: 01482 802415

or Contact: Jo Shores


Phone: 01482 391164

Learning to get the most from ads

In Cheshire, where there is a collaborative approach

to workforce development across the strategic

health authority, PCTs and local councils, a

workforce conference included a workshop on howto get the most from advertising. It featured role

play highlighting the approaches most likely to deter

potential applicants and those more likely to engage

them. The workshop was run by a national

advertising agency contracted to Cheshire County

Council.

While a small independent organisation might not

be able to provide training of this sort itself,

authorities or employers working in collaboration

could organise something similar as part of a joint

workforce development event.



Phone: 07957 140384

Care vacancy website

The provision of IT hardware to independent

providers in Manchester to assist with the collection

of workforce data has also supported the setting up

of a care vacancy site. This allows employers to

advertise their vacancies and applicants to respondonline. Use of the webpage should also highlight

problems such as providers who have consistent or

substantial levels of vacancies.



Phone: 0161 2196787

Jobs and training website

Oxfordshire County Council has a website aimed at

employers and trainers that also highlights available

job opportunities and offers job seekers direct links to

local authority and/or independent sector employers.

The site receives hits regularly (more than 2,000 inthe first few months) and covers different areas of

employment, which means people not previously

aware of social care careers may come across care

sector information while browsing. The section

specifically on social care has external links to further

information and career paths.

Care sector organisations meet regularly with the

consultancy that project manages the website to

ensure it provides what is needed.

Contact: Joan Chattey

E-mail: [email protected] 01685 815774

City-wide job fair

Manchester City Council hosted a big job fair,

funded by the HR development grant. It was well

advertised on the Metrolink public transport system,

local radio, newspapers and posters. The event was

held in Manchesters Town Hall and was attended by

600 people, 70% of whom were local residents.

There are plans for further events in other areas of

the city, building on this successful approach, which

resulted in one local employer receiving 27

applicants.



Phone: 0161 219 6787

3 | Approaches to recruitment

24


25/49

25

1 Who cares now? UK Home Care Association 2004

Notes

Pay is a major issue there is a conflict of

interest in that care workers have to earn a

living but providers have to remaincompetitive

Independent employer


26/49

Chap

ter4


Recruiting from

marginalised communities


26


27/49

A common concern among social care employers isthat the relevant labour market is quite limited and

we are all fishing in the same pool. Understanding

this may act as a spur to working collaboratively to

find solutions, rather than just continuing to

compete for a dwindling supply of suitable staff; it

may also lead to initiatives aimed at increasing the

pool of available recruits targeting:

young people

people from marginalised communities (see p.27)

staff from overseas.

The choice of approach needs to be appropriate to

the target group.


Many authorities and social care organisations are

doing their best to make sure that young people are

aware of the potential for employment in social

care, using a variety of strategies.

A popular approach is introducing care

ambassador schemes. The thinking is that young

and personable staff already working in social care,

and who are able to talk enthusiastically and

positively about their own jobs, are in the best

position to attract other young people into social

care work. In most areas where this has been tried,

there is great enthusiasm for the scheme.

But school visits by care ambassadors require

careful planning. Schools often want a session at

9 am and may not understand that this is a difficult

time for employers to release any staff. It helps ifschools talk directly to employers when planning

visits.

Another effective approach is to develop cadetschemes to attract young people into health or

social care work. These usually consist of a

combination of work experience placements and a

part-time college course, normally leading to an

NVQ at either level 2 or 3.

Overall there is a lot of interesting work going on

with schools in many areas, such as:

ensuring that school careers advisers are well

briefed on social care opportunities

attending school careers events

developing material like CDs especially for usein schools

supporting teachers delivering the GNVQ in

social care

providing supported visits for teachers.

Potential barriers

The commonly held belief that the Commission for

Social Care Inspection (CSCI) insists that people

must be aged 18 and over to engage in direct care

duties, specifically personal care tasks, often leads to

concern that this creates problems in retaining the

interest of the 16+ group until they reach 18. As a

result many initiatives aimed at attracting younger

people are not delivering any new recruits into

home care posts.

This mythical age barrier is seemingly the reason

there are not many examples of well-developed

apprenticeship schemes in the social care sector. For

instance, Norfolk County Council first targeted 17

year olds, but raised the age to 18 because of the

anticipated CSCI response. There are cases ofauthorities being unable to attract sufficient young

people into care work but able to recruit them as

27

4Increasing the pool


28/49

apprentices to administrative jobs.

CSCI guidance (see Appendix) makes it clear there

is no such ban, although there is a need to ensure

that younger people have undertaken the essential

training required for all recruits.

Of course there are other aspects of home care

which make it difficult to employ young people, one

of which is the need in most cases to be a car driver

and have access to a vehicle. Another is the fact

that care workers usually work on their own in

service users homes. There is apparently a growingneed for two-handed visits as increasing numbers of

people with very high dependency levels are

maintained in the community, so that one option

may be to employ younger recruits to travel and

work in tandem with an experienced worker

providing such visits.

Structuring frontline staff so that there is a small

team within a given area, together with a senior

care worker who has a supervisory role, may also be

a way of ensuring that younger workers have

adequate support, but this does depend on whetheror not commissioning delivers viable caseloads to

enable providers to focus on specific localities.

CASE STUDIES

Integrated approach

In 2003 Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

had no initiatives targeted at young people.

Statistics showed 600 young people enrolled on

health and social care courses in the area but this

pool of potential recruits was being tapped only by

the health sector. Since that time a schools and

colleges liaison project has been set up in

partnership with other stakeholders to develop an

integrated approach to attracting more young

people into social care.

The project has adopted various strategies,

including:

influencing career choice among 14-16 year olds

offering a range of work experience placements

for 16-19 year olds

a care ambassador scheme a care cadet scheme.

There has been positive feedback from students and

there is an expectation that some of them intend to

pursue career opportunities within social care.

Contact: Jane Connolly


or Contact: Christine Ash


Care Ambassador scheme toolkit

Four authorities in the area have implemented Care

Ambassador schemes based on a model developed

by Skills for Care SW England in partnership withthe Dorset Care Association employers group. There

is a toolkit available. In tandem with the schemes,

handbooks for students, employers and teachers

have now been developed as part of a structured

work experience programme. There is also a care

ambassadors website and plans for a DVD.

Contact: Denise Harrison


Phone: 01305 816080

Mix of initiatives for schoolsCo-ordinated initiatives are supporting the school

curriculum in Cheshire. These include talks in

schools, attendance at careers evenings, work

experience opportunities, specific localised

programmes such as young apprenticeships and

junior scholarships and pilots of specialist diplomas.

Teachers and careers advisers are offered supported

visits.

A wide network of partnerships is also developing

between the countys local authorities, PCTs, the

strategic health authority academy, Connexions

services, further education colleges, Education

Business Plus and the Aim Higher project.



Phone: 07957 140384

Recruiting frommarginalised communities

There is a lot of exciting work being done to attractpeople who may never imagine (even if they knew

about it) that they could get a job in social care, for a

4 | Increasing the pool

28


29/49

variety of reasons. For instance, they may have feared

exclusion on the grounds of age, lack relevant

qualifications or skills, come from a socially excluded

community or been unemployed over a long period. A

common element of such schemes is providing hand-

holding or other support wherever necessary, an

ability to think out of the box and a flexible approach

to conventional recruiting procedures. A number of

innovative schemes are making a contribution to the

numbers in the local social care workforce.

Pre-application training can play a major role ingetting people job-ready, particularly if they have

been unemployed for long periods. Although people

often remain on benefits while doing pre-application

training, in some places they get paid to train and this

is seen as an important element in the success of

those schemes.

Mentoring schemes to provide ongoing support

once someone starts work can be very helpful in

stemming leakage of recruits within the early weeks of

employment.

Overcoming the mobility problem

One of the difficulties in placing people in home

care positions is that they need to be able to drive.

Although this can be a barrier for all sorts of staff,when people have been unemployed for some time

or they are otherwise disadvantaged, they are less

likely to be drivers or to have access to a roadworthy

vehicle.

Authorities recognise the difficulties posed by the

need for care workers to be mobile, especially in

rural areas, and some have found ways to address

this. For instance, recruits may be placed in a

residential home or day-care centre until they are

able to fund driving lessons and acquire a vehicle, or

given home care assignments which involve

doubling-up with another worker. Barnsley MBC has

teamed up with a scheme called Wheels to Workwhich provides mopeds so that staff are able to get

around the more rural parts of the authority. Some

local authorities still pay a bicycle allowance.

CASE STUDIES

Future carers scheme

Barnsley MBC launched its Future Carers

programme to tackle recruitment problems in an

area with a 5% unemployment rate and also to

address issues of diversity and exclusion. Many

people not in work were regarded as unemployable.The scheme, funded by the European Social Fund,

consists of a 16-week programme that trains up to

Skills for Care foundation standards and also covers

basic skills. During this period CRB checks are

completed, there are options to look at various areas

of social care and participation in job taster days.

Work placements are provided by a growing number

of independent contracted providers. Trainees

remain on benefits until they are in a job.

Participants are given help with job searches and

applications. Provision on the Future Carers scheme

is for two cohorts each year. Of the first cohort 12

out of 16 were successful in getting through the

course, and the majority went into social care jobs.



Phone: 01226 772378

Open day for unemployed

Enfield Council, in partnership with Jobcentre Plus

and Focus Training, organised an open day forpeople who had been unemployed for six months or

more. Those who expressed an interest in social care

29

We have always celebrated

our successes. It never ceases

to amaze me how excited

people get theyve often had

no success at school. Seeing

their excitement and

satisfaction is a greatencouragement to all the rest

of us the wow factor!

HR manager, about a successful scheme recruiting

and training people from very deprived areas


30/49

at the event were given a basic literacy test and a

very short interview. Successful candidates were

then able to undertake a two or three-week full-

time basic training course in care. Training was

provided by a local training agency and included

taster days arranged with the in-house service.

This project was found to be very successful. Not

only did candidates go into social care jobs but also

a great deal of time was saved in vetting

applications because those who had done the

course were able to make a conscious decision toapply for work. Funding for the project has since

been withdrawn due to changing priorities within

Jobcentre Plus.

Contact: Sue Collingridge


Phone: 0208 379 8099

Targeting older workers

Warwickshire Quality Partnership Initiative (County

Council) aims to recruit older care workers as part of

its Careers in Care strategy to encourage moreapplications from marginalised groups. A key part of

the campaign is a leaflet designed as a recruitment

tool and available to the independent sector free of

charge. Prominently asking Am I too old to care?

and showing older care workers on the inside

pages.

Contact: Elaine Ives


Phone: 01926 731034

Service users join ambassadors

Staffordshire County Council has worked in

collaboration with the Staffordshire and Stoke Social

Care Workforce Partnership to develop a rapidly

growing care ambassador scheme, funded jointly by

the county councils social care and health

directorate and supported by Stoke-on-Trent City

Council. Several ambassadors come from

independent employers and some service users. The

intention is to extend this scheme to attract older

people into social care by using ambassadors fromrelevant age groups. The scheme is viewed as a

longer-term recruitment strategy with some short-

term gains. Typically one event attended by 120

young people resulted in 62 requests for further

information about careers in social care.

Contact: Shirley Brennan


Phone: 01782 599965

Training support

Cheshire County Councils intermediate labour

market programme aims to provide a bridge back

into work by improving peoples employability. Thescheme is being implemented in localities by groups

that include independent employers. The main part

of the six-month programme is a supported training

contract. It also includes pre-access training,

personal development and assistance with job

search. The key thing about this programme is that

it is a job with training, rather than a training

scheme, and participants are paid the going rate for

the job.


E-mail: [email protected]: 07957 140384

Applicant friendly recruitment

Conventional recruitment procedures can pose

obstacles to applicants who lack basic literacy skills,

or who are not confident about filling in forms.

Cheshire County Council has piloted shorter

application forms and introduced less formal

interviewing procedures. Another approach is having

lay assessors on recruitment panels.



Phone: 07957 140384

Support for new recruits

Staffordshire County Councils care ambassador

scheme aims to attract older workers, especially

people who have been carers or who have some

form of disability themselves. The council has also

obtained funding for a programme of mentoring to

support new recruits. The 10 mentors will eachmentor five recently appointed care workers over a

period of around 12 weeks, giving them up to 25

4 | Increasing the pool

30


31/49

hours each of mentoring time. This should reduce

the problems employers often experience of new

care workers leaving within the first few weeks in

the job and after money has been invested in

recruiting, obtaining CRB clearance and providing

induction training, so the scheme might well prove

cost-effective.

Contact: Penny Lawlor


Phone: 07815 827430


Based on anecdotal evidence there appears to be a

great deal of international recruitment going on, and

there are some major concerns about the way this is

being carried out and about some of the

consequences. The Commission for Social Care

Inspection (CSCI) has said1

that the independent

sector has become increasingly dependent on a

migrant workforce, which does nothing to improve

the stability of the sector. Recruiting internationally

can have a positive impact on the ability oforganisations to maintain and expand their service

capacity. It is critical, however, that this is only

undertaken in a careful and properly organised

manner, with clear protocols and procedures in

place, rather than haphazardly attracting would-be

migrant workers desperate for employment even at

low rates of pay.

CASE STUDY

Independent provider Agincare

Based in Dorset, the company recruits abroad to

increase capacity and tackle problems of patchy

recruitment; in some areas the company serves it

could not recruit at all. One long-running and

successful initiative is to recruit from Poland,

Lithuania and the Czech Republic. Agincare has

learned through experience that key elements of this

approach include:

visiting countries themselves to select staff

obtaining police checks on candidates and

evidence of driving tests while in the country, and

also ascertaining that candidates can speak English

giving candidates a two-week orientation course on

living in England when they first arrive in the UK.

During this first fortnight recruits also take a driving

test and get CRB clearance.

They are then given induction training

incorporating all the normal requirements butdeveloped especially for international recruits.

Agincare has bought properties and converted them

into bedsits to offer their overseas workers

accommodation at a subsidised rate. The company

also provides vehicles.

Agincare says overseas recruitment has increased

the workforce by 17%. This represents not only an

increase in numbers but also a supply of care

workers who are able to work full-time and can be

extremely flexible.

Contact: Derek Luckhurst, Managing Director, AgincareE-mail: [email protected]

Phone: 01305 769418

31

1 The state of social care in England 200405 Commission

for Social Care Inspection 2005

Notes

New providers come into

an area and take staff by

offering higher rates, and,

because they are not a

block provider, they can

charge more

Independent employer


32/49

Chap

ter5

Training

Career pathways

Increasing job satisfaction Financial incentives

32


33/49

Recent figures suggest turnover rates in home carein particular are very high, around 26% compared

to a national labour turnover rate in the UK

generally of 15.7%.16

That means that on average

social care employers in all sectors are losing and

replacing a quarter of their workforce each year. In

areas of very low unemployment where there is

competition from less stressful but comparably paid

work, turnover can be as high as 75%. High

turnover is problematic for various reasons, not least

that repeated recruitment, induction and clearance

checks represent a very significant cost.

Continued turnover of staff makes it more difficultfor providers to ensure the necessary 50% of their

workforce have NVQ level 2, and, perhaps most

importantly, quality of care is compromised by lackof continuity. Failure to retain staff also means that

building up the workforce to respond to the

demands for increased capacity becomes

increasingly difficult.

Once people have obtained NVQ level 2 they are

more likely to stay in the industry, although the

qualification may put some in a better position to

switch employers for better terms and more

opportunities elsewhere. Nevertheless, providing

support to assist employers in achieving the NVQ

targets is likely to be extremely welcome.

Whilst seeming self-evident, its worth pointing

out that if staff find their work satisfying they are

more likely to stay in the social care workforce.

Some organisations have made specific efforts to

improve job satisfaction among their employees.

Training

Being offered good training is generally appreciated

by staff and makes them feel valued. Independent

employers who invest heavily in training or have

access to adequate training resources tend to report

fewer retention problems. Training can also be

instrumental in creating a shared culture and

ensuring that staff are confident in their work which

then leads to better retention.

Induction training is critical. There tends to be a

leakage of new recruits within the first three months

of their employment. There could be many reasons

for this but a key one is apparently a lack ofconfidence among new care workers in dealing with

complex needs in a situation where they are

33

5Promoting retention

'Our turnover used to bealmost 100% but since there

has been a more structured

approach, much better

induction and an opportunity

to obtain qualifications,

retention has improved. This

year we have taken on 54

people and only lost 13 in the

last nine months. We have

already got half our care

workers with NVQ2.'

Manager of independent organisation


34/49

probably working on their own. Good and adequate

induction could counter this problem. The

introduction of Skills for Cares common induction

standards which must be implemented from

September 2006 will undoubtedly help but will

also present employers with some challenges.

Training is one of the key areas where

collaboration and partnership can be very effective.

There is actually a great deal of funding available for

training but it is not always easy for independent

employers to access and they usually have to maketheir own contribution. Most funding goes to local

authorities in the form of training support grants,

both to train their own workforce and to transfer to

organisations with which they contract. Employers

may be helped with the cost of training to some

extent, and this is generally resourced through

funding such as the European Social Fund (ESF),

from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) or via

industry or regional consortia. Small organisations

largely lack either the skills or the resources to

undertake the complex application processes toobtain this funding on their own, so this support is

extremely valuable.

Unfortunately, even where training is provided by

councils, employers are not always able to take

advantage of it. This is generally because:

training takes a whole day and it is not possible to

release staff from work for that long, especially

where this might mean releasing several people

from the same area at one time

training is delivered in a central location that is

difficult for staff to get to, particularly in rural

areas

training is in theory open to all sectors, but in

practice booking forms go to in-house teams first

and independent providers are only offered the

remaining places.

Experience also shows that where training is held

jointly with the in-house service, independent staff

are likely to become dissatisfied comparing their

terms and conditions with those of the in-housecare workers.

CASE STUDIES

Induction workbook

Staffordshire Social Care Workforce Partnership has

developed an induction workbook, funded through

the enabling fund that is part of the training strategy

implementation grant available via Skills for Care. All

local employers get a free copy of the workbook,

which is being updated to conform to the Skills for

Care common induction standards. This approach is

more workable than delivering the in-house

induction programme to independent employers.Contact: Penny Lawler


Phone: 07815 827430

Training networks

The Tyne and Wear Care Alliance was set up in

response to concerns about the ability of the

independent sector to train adequately. It is a

collaborative of workforce development

professionals and employers, who are encouraged

to participate in the development and managementof individual networks and also provide training

placements. The alliance acts as a broker

commissioning training that is then supplied at no

cost other than the cost of releasing staff while

they undertake training to employers. One of the

main aims is to ensure that training is equitable

across in-house and independent sectors, particularly

with regard to NVQs. There have been some

problems getting candidates through to completion,

partly due to training organisations having too high

a ratio of candidates to assessors and partly due to

care workers moving from one organisation to

another. The Tyne and Wear Care Alliance is also

working on Route into Care with Jobcentre Plus and

has funding to get 60 people through induction

training, Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA),

CRB checks and into care posts. Within the initiative

there is also a drive to ensure that employment

organisations such as Jobcentre Plus have a better

understanding of care training.

Contact: Pauline WiperE-mail: [email protected]

Phone: 07915 656052

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Commissioning training

Warwickshire Quality Partnership aims to raise

standards and enhance quality of care via training.

The hope is that this will also improve staff

retention, and already turnover has reduced for

some providers. The partnership is run by a board

consisting of representatives from both independent

and statutory sectors who determine the

programme, so it is entirely in line with the needs of

service providers. There is a project manager who is

employed by the local authority but works to theboard and takes responsibility for commissioning

training. The project manager may also help

independent organisations with training needs

analysis and other things such as problems with

inspections. Providers get funding to pay for training

plus advice on how to choose training organisations.

Contact: Elaine Ives


Phone: 01926 731034

Opportunities for independent providersAll training offered by Thurrock Council is open to

independent sector staff, including core skills

training carried out jointly with the health sector,

which is also available to care workers from

independent agencies. Thurrock uses a number of

consultants to deliver its NVQ programme, who

have additionally supported several managers in the

independent sector in achieving their NVQ level 4,

paid for by the council. Independent employers can

nominate a certain number of care staff to do their

NVQ2 through Thurrock.

Contact: Jan Hurn


Phone: 01375 652856

Joint training

A joint induction programme, set in an extra care

housing complex run by Pennine Housing in

partnership with Calderdale Council adult services,

initially aimed to clear up confusion about the roles

and responsibilities of the two sets of staff and givea broad understanding of the interface areas. This

has now developed into a joint training programme

covering general training in both areas of

responsibility, such as the aims and values of the

extra care scheme, safety and security. Further joint

training is planned to cover abuse and some

specialist skills.

The training initiative has seemingly empowered

staff and fostered a better understanding of what the

scheme aims to achieve. The staff work more as one

team and retention is reported to have improved.

Contact: Sue Lewis

E-mail: [email protected]: 01422 284547

NVQ workpacks

The Cheshire Consortium for Health and Social

Care, which has 50 partners, mainly from the

independent sector, aims to speed up NVQ

attainment. A team analysed all the options for NVQ

levels 2 and 3 and has come up with a selection

that between them encompasses the whole range

of care types. A workpack has been developed for

each of the options and f

2007 DoH Collaborative Recruitment Solutions in Social Care - Getting and Keeping Your Workforce

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