Hello Members
You may have seen this week in the news that the Government via the DHSC is releasing some information which may have an affect on the way you manage your staff in the future. Please rest assured that as your Association, we will be keeping a close eye on developments and will be there to support and guide you through any suggested best practice. As a Centre of Excellence with Skills for Care we expect that HCPA will be able to access any associated funding to support our members who want to move in this direction, but for now, this is still up in the air. Click here to find out more
The biggest key points which we will be bringing you more information about are detailed below:
The plans include the launch of the care workforce pathway: for the first time, there will be a national career structure for the adult social care workforce, covering the breadth and complexity of care.
This first phase of the pathway focuses on direct care and support roles at 4 levels with each level relating to a role category. Roles within each category may have different job titles but the roles will have a high degree of similarity across the sector. The role categories are:
- role category A: new to care
- role category B: care or support worker
- role category C: supervisor or leader
- role category D: practice leader
The Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate qualification will launch in June. The qualification will be accredited to ensure its quality and will be recognised by employers when care workers move roles, reducing the costs and burden of repeat training. Over time the Government wants this new qualification to become the baseline standard for all new care and support workers to work towards when they join the profession. This works very well with our Care Professional Academy which will allow staff to log their own certificates and gain points to access benefits. Please encourage sign up now so that your staff are in a good position to move forward with owning their own qualifications. Please send this link to your staff: https://www.careprofessional.co.uk/about/
The launch of the care workforce pathway in partnership with Skills for Care, is intended to ensure the adult social care workforce is recognised as the professional workforce it is, to improve people’s perception and experience of a career in care. The first version of the care workforce pathway and the introduction of the Care Certificate qualification are both projects which Skills for Care has consulted and supported on with the sector including HCPA on behalf of our members.
Values
Think Local Act Personal (TLAP) were commissioned to work with people who draw on care and support to develop a universal set of values for the sector. Values are the beliefs and views that people hold about the importance of something.
The values that have been defined apply across all role categories outlined in this phase of the pathway. The intention is for these values to apply across the whole of the adult social care workforce. The values reflect what people who draw on care and support said they want to see in all members of the adult social care workforce. The values also explain to those considering a career in adult social care the values they must have. The values were shared with representatives from the adult social care workforce to make sure that the values identified by people who draw on care and support aligned with what members of the adult social care workforce think.
Some employers and sector organisations will already have values that meet the needs of their organisation, workforce and people who draw on care, which may already align or partially align with the values set out within the pathway. We do not expect the pathway values to replace existing organisational values where these are working well. However, we would suggest that all organisations consider how the pathway values might be useful to them. The values may be useful where an organisation is looking to create or refresh their values or they could help in attracting new recruits into the sector. The benefit of using the pathway values is that they are in line with the lived experience of people who draw on care and support.
Action for employers
The pathway is designed to set the direction of learning and development across the adult social care sector going forward. In advance of launching of the digital product, we recommend that any employer in the sector should consider the pathway and think about how they can apply it. This could involve:
- adopting the values in the pathway
- looking at how existing organisational structures and job roles map onto the pathway
- using the pathway to guide conversations about careers, development and progression.
For support on career conversations please email coursebookings@hcpa.co.uk and ask for information on the Scope for Growth and leadership courses.
As we get more information we will be sure to share it with you and support you on your journey, so please continually check our newsletters.