Impact of the Heightened Profile of Social Care
By Nasir Quraishi – Group HR Director of CareTech
The long term funding of the social care sector in the UK has been a challenge for successive Government administrations and still remains unanswered. The expected Green Paper with long term funding proposals on social care was delayed by Brexit and now of course is overshadowed by COVID-19 and the far reaching impact this has brought to both the health and social care sectors.
The COVID-19 virus has raised awareness and opened a public debate on the role of social care in society - never before has the sector had the opportunity to drive and influence positive change driven by Government, Members of Parliament and the public’s perception of the societal role of ‘social care’.
The care sector has struggled with the notion that our workforce has a low barrier to entry and are largely deemed as low skilled and for those who have no career aspirations. Those familiar with the sector will know that in reality, the roles are now highly technical and skilled, and that the social care workforce has both extensive training, development and career pathway opportunities.
One area which is not new, but has become more prominent since the COVID-19 pandemic is the divide between the NHS and social care workforces. The general public, the media and both local and national government have increasingly recognised that parity between those who work in health care and those who work in social care is not there. This is a fundamental issue which needs to be aligned.
Of course, there will be many challenges on this journey and a starting point could be Recognition and Reward. Careful consideration needs to be given to recognise social care colleagues in a similar fashion to colleagues from health related roles. Pay points may be a good starting position and while the sector is largely a National Minimum Wage payer due to constraints of Local Authority funding for social care, the value of the role needs to redefined and parity of pay should be linked to colleagues in similar roles in the NHS.
Professional registration may play a part in this future workforce, however it will need to be universally taken up, focused on individual’s development, accessible and affordable. It may also establish a minimum skill level benchmark to provide platforms for individual development, whatever the system, it should be employer led and acknowledged by employers.
Measures to eradicate waste are key, employing staff who do not hold the right values for social care, ends with a system breakdown where the individuals leave and employers are left holding the costs - professional registration would go some way to alleviating some of the waste, “getting it right first time”.
The social care sector is significant and the growth trajectory profound and it is not just confined to care and support for older people. It spans adults and children with learning disparities, physical disabilities, mental health needs and many other care and support needs. It is as rewarding a vocation as nursing and healthcare jobs in the NHS. The growth in the sector means that the workforce needs to grow and develop significantly - even pre-COVID-19 there were 125,000 vacancies for support and care workers.
COVID has seen a surge of public support for the NHS, Social Care and Key workers, we now need to capitalise on this opportunity.
There will be sectors sadly decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic estimated at some 600,000 people in the hospitality workforce alone – it is time to rethink roles, are there any transferable skills? Are we looking at a new type of workforce? Caretech have embarked on the first stage of this journey by establishing a partnership with SFH, People 1st and the caterer on redeployment of the hospitality workforce in to care settings.
CareTech, have a number of vacancies across the Group and we are reaching out to candidates who can demonstrate they share the same values and behaviours which are required to provide person centred care for the people that we support.
Social care is rewarding in many different ways. It provides for both stable employment and career enhancement for the right candidates. If values define you as an individual than we would love to hear from you. Come and be part of a great team and take your place along with our ‘Social Care Heroes’.
Successful candidates will undertake accredited online learning from Skills for Health, giving them the introductory knowledge to provide compassionate and high quality care and support. They will then continue this learning journey through CareTech’s best in class training programmes, this will be a combination of ‘on–the job’ training and e learning for a period of 12 weeks resulting in candidates achieving the industry recognised ‘Care Certificate’ qualification. Our intention is to test for proof of concept and the open up to the wider sector.
Website: www.caretech-uk.com
Twitter: @caretech
About CareTech:
Caretech Community Services operates 350 services across the UK. It provides support for Adults, Children and Young people with complex and challenging behaviours associated with Autism, Learning Disabilities, Mental Health and Neurological conditions. Services include residential care, education, clinical and a range of supported living schemes including individual flats, houses and grouped accommodation arrangements.
