Our strategy
Explore our plans for 2021 - 2024
A message from our CEO
This strategy sets out Skills for Care’s direction over the next three years. The strategy will inform our work, and ultimately help support adult social care to meet the needs of our families and communities now and in the future. We will be keeping it up to date during the lifecycle of the strategy to reflect feedback and changes in the landscape.
In the video, Skills for Care CEO Oonagh Smyth reflects on the way social care is delivered in England is changing, drawing on the work of Social Care Future :
‘Don’t we all want to live in the place we call home with the people and things that we love, in communities where we look out for one another, doing the things that matter to us?’
About Skills for Care
Skills for Care is the strategic workforce development and planning body for adult social care in England.
We work with employers, Government, and partners to ensure social care has the right people, skills, and support required to deliver the highest quality care and support, now and in the future.
Our role is to respond and adapt to the emerging trends and needs within social care, using data and evidence to drive forward widescale change. We provide best practice, tools, resources, and intelligence to support workforce recruitment, capabilities, and culture.
All of our work is collaborative. By working with our partners, we are able to bring together a vast array of expertise, support, and influence – which in turn increases the impact and reach of our work.
Strategic partnership activity
- Social care leaders vision for a future workforce strategy – priorities which must be included in a national workforce strategy/people plan for adult social care priorities for the sector for the future
- HEE's Strategic Framework for Health and Social Care Workforce update - a review of long term strategic trends for the health and social care workforce.
- Collaborative priorities for the social care workforce 2020-2025 with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) and Local Government Association (LGA)
Our strategy
Our vision
Our vision is of a fair and just society, where people can access the advice, care and support they need to live life to the fullest.
Our mission
To support and empower current and future social care leaders, employers and the wider workforce.
Strategic priorities
In pursuit of our mission and vision, over the next three years, we will pursue four strategic priorities that will help shape the make-up of the adult social care workforce, drive forward reform and ensure that social care is seen as a valued and worthwhile career. Our approach will evolve over the three years to reflect feedback and the changing landscape.
Increasing workforce capacity
to make sure we have the right number of people, with the right values and behaviours, working in social care now and in the future.
Supporting workforce capabilities
to ensure staff have the right skills, knowledge, competencies, values and behaviours to meet current and future needs in our communities.
Improving the social care system
to ensure it is well funded, supports people to live the lives that they choose and attracts the right people to the workforce.
Supporting culture and diversity
to ensure the workforce is treated equally, feels included and valued, and is supported to stay well and pursue their careers in social care.
Values
We will be guided by our core values throughout the implementation of the strategy to achieve I.M.P.A.C.T.
Inclusive
Motivated
Passionate
Ambitious
We are Ambitious, for adult social care because we know what a difference it makes to people’s lives and our communities.
Collaborative
Trustworthy
Achieving our mission
Our work will:
- Define good practice and set standard
- Look to future needs
- Raise the profile of the sector
- Support the development of skills, knowledge, competencies, and behaviour
- Support the learning market
Increasing workforce capacity
We are all living for longer, but that does have implications which we need to be aware of and plan for. We know that more people need support, and the people who need support often have more complex needs than they might have done in previous decades.
The social care workforce must reflect this reality – ensuring there are the right number of staff, who are equipped with the right skills and have access to the latest technology, to meet the needs of the people they support now, and in the future.
This means not only increasing the numbers of people in the workforce in both regulated and non-regulated roles, but making sure the right people, with the right behaviours and values, are attracted to a career in social care.
To do this, we will:
- support all types of employers to recruit the right people, with a focus on the behaviours and values that enable people to provide the highest quality care and support
- use our data and insight to understand future demand and supply in the workforce and the gaps. Support commissioners and local bodies to understand their local population and plan for their local workforce and to use our resources to plan to meet these needs
- work with Government and other partners to help the public better understand social care, increase the esteem in which it is held, and ensure it is seen as a career of choice.
Building workforce capability
For too long, a career in social care has been seen as low-value and low-skilled. This is not the case. People working in adult social care have a vital role in society, and deserve to be recognised as highly qualified professionals, who are respected for the work they do.
We will work with all types of social care employers to change perceptions and ensure that the workforce, at every level, has the right skills, competencies, and behaviours to meet the needs of the people they support now and in the future.
To do this we will:
- support the creation of a nationally agreed and consistent career pathway for social care, including learning and development requirements for each role, that employers understand and use to develop staff appropriately
- use our knowledge of current and future skills needs to shape and define learning and development for the future
- work with employers, leaders and managers to ensure they understand the importance of investing in learning and development, including new technologies, and have access to the tools they need to deliver high quality training. We will support employers to upskill staff and remove barriers to the use of technology
- work with our endorsed learning providers to ensure that there is high quality learning and development available for the sector to access.
Supporting culture and diversity
The strength of social care is in celebrating, valuing, and recognising what makes people unique and supporting them to overcome challenges. To do this, it is vital that the adult social care workforce reflects the society we live in, and that people feel included and treated equally. Skills for Care is committed to using our data and insight to focus attention on areas and issues where there is more work to do, to ensure that diversity is valued and that organisational cultures are positive.
To do this we will:
- develop and promote tools and resources to help employers and the workforce implement inclusive and positive organisational cultures. This includes development of competencies and behaviours focussed on the implementation of the Workforce Race Equality Standard, which will allow us to monitor progress and drive up standards and practice across the sector
- promote diverse and compassionate leadership across all their services to ensure the workforce feels equal, valued and included, with a culture that encourages wellbeing and progression
- support the sector to monitor and report on progress in implementing employee diversity objectives, using standardised data and measures, and identify opportunities to continually improve.
Improving social care systems
One of our core roles is to look to the future needs of the adult social care sector and drive forward positive change. This means supporting the whole sector to innovate, making the best use of data, and evidence, and working collaboratively with our partners to build a social care workforce that is fit for the future.
To do this we will:
- use our leading knowledge of social care best practice, tools, high quality data and intelligence to support local and national stakeholders to effectively develop strategy, commission, and plan for the workforce together
- understand the workforce and how it must develop and promote these needs to Government and other national and local decision makers
- work with our counterparts in health and other stakeholders to ensure that those involved in the integration of health and social care understand social care and can carry out workforce planning that meets the needs of the social care workforce.
Get involved
We’d really appreciate your feedback and reflections on our strategy.
The survey should take less than 20 minutes to complete, your responses will be considered by our team and will inform our next stage of strategy delivery. It closes at 5pm on Tuesday 14 September 2021.
With thanks
Our new strategy was informed by a number of stakeholders and collaborators who generously shared their time and insight. The collaboration of our partners and audience groups is key to achieving impact and driving forward real change.
We look forward to working with you to deliver our strategy and work towards a social care system where people can access the advice, care and support they need to live life to the fullest.