Skills for Care launches their three year strategy vowing to tackle workforce challenges

Skills for Care launches their three year strategy vowing to tackle workforce challenges and ensure that social care is seen as a valued and worthwhile career

Skills for Care’s new three year strategy, sets out the direction the charity will take as they work towards their vision of supporting everyone who works across social care to create a fair and just society where people can access the advice, care, and support they need to live lives they want. 

Their strategy focusses on four strategic areas for investment and growth over the next three years, which will help guide Skills for Care to help shape the skills and knowledge of the social care workforce, support reform of the sector, and ensure that social care is seen as a valued and worthwhile career. Skills for Care use data and evidence to drive forward wide scale change.

Skills for Care’s four strategic areas are: 

• 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. 
• 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. 
• Improving the social care system to ensure it’s well funded, supports people to live the lives that they choose and attracts the right people to the workforce. 

Skills for Care believe that success must be achieved in each of these areas in order to build a social care system that’s fit for the future.

Skills for Care CEO Oonagh Smyth says: 

“We are delighted to launch our new strategy and excited about the impact it will have on people drawing on care and support and working in social care over the next three years. 

This new strategy was created in recognition that the way social care is delivered in England is changing so it won’t be a static strategy but will evolve based on feedback and changes in social care. 

Skills for Care believes that social care needs to adapt to these changes so that everyone has access to care and support that is focussed on their unique needs and aspirations, now, and in the years to come. 

Equally, people who work in social care have to be recognised as carrying out a vital role in society. We want social care to be seen by the public as a professional and skilled career that has real value for people in our communities who draw on services, supported by our committed and skilled workforce.”

You can read more about Skills for Care’s three year strategy here.