SCIE media releases 2009

Adult Social Care Workforce Strategy - SCIE response

23 April 2009

Responding to the launch of Adult Social Care Workforce Strategy, Chief Executive of the Social Care Institute for Excellence Julie Jones says:

 “We warmly welcome the announcement of the apprenticeship and management training schemes as a solution to the challenge of building and retaining a skilled and qualified social care workforce.

“SCIE hopes that the apprenticeship scheme will encourage employers to take up this model more widely as it offers a new way of attracting younger people into social care. We have been actively involved in developing plans for the management training scheme. What we are looking for from the schemes is a tangible contribution to enable the build-up of a high quality workforce with a correspondingly high status that will be sustained in the long term.

“Existing and new leaders, managers and frontline workers need support in order to meet future demand for personalised services. For our part we will continue to deliver practical guidance on ‘what works’ in frontline practice, service provision and people management. It is particularly important to support the workforce in private and voluntary sector organisations of all sizes because they are the main providers of social care and we are actively working with the independent sector, as well as directors of adults’ services, to tackle this issue. We are, for example, developing resources for domiciliary care services – the next group of staff to be registered with the General Social Care Council. We are also calling for more support for provider organisations led by people who use care services, and carer-led organisations. They will play an important role in providing advocacy and support.”

Media contact

Steve Palmer | Interim Press and Public Affairs Manager | T: 020 7089 7117 | Mobile: 07739 458 192 | Email: media@scie.org.uk