Recommendation 8

HM Government Acknowledged

7.20 The social care workforce has demonstrated compassion and dedication in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. They have worked at the front line, supporting people at the heart of their communities. We want to increase recognition of the social care workforce to empower staff and develop a shared identity for the workforce both now and in the future, as well as reforming the training of the adult social care workforce and embedding a clear and consistent strategy for doing so. 7.21 We have seen the vital contribution which the social care nursing and wider workforce have made during the pandemic. The appointment of a Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care will help build the reputation and expertise of the social care nursing workforce, celebrate their contribution and ensure their influence in future policy and development. While the Chief Nurse will sit within the Adult Social Care Group in DHSC, the role will have a clear professional link to the CNO in NHSE/I, giving a collective voice across all parts of the nursing workforce and helping to give social care parity with the NHS. We recognize the importance of investing in skills and training. This has been demonstrated through the high take up of the Workforce Development Fund, which we disseminate through Skills for Care. The Fund helped almost 3000 establishments support over 14,000 learners in 2018-19 and 92% of employers who accessed the Fund to support staff training reported an improvement in care quality, with further positive impacts on the ability of staff or the service to meet specialist and personalised needs and expectations of those that used the services. We want to ensure that our future strategy supports the long-term delivery of improvements for the adult social care sector, including embedding clear career pathways which provide opportunities for aligned training. We recognise vital input of stakeholders in the development of this work and commit to working closely with Skills for Care and the sector as this work progresses. 7.22 We are also keen to recognise the important contribution our workforce makes and to date we have distributed over 1 million CARE badges to those employed in social care across England. We continue to develop the CARE brand as a means of unifying and identifying the workforce and to support recognition of social care staff as essential workers. We believe this will contribute to empowering staff in developing their careers, reinforcing visible appreciation of their vital work and amplifying the voice of the sector. 7.23 CARE badges are only available for adult social care staff in England. Preliminary discussions explaining the CARE brand and CARE badges have occurred with representatives of Devolved Administrations. We have had conversations with our Devolved Administration counterparts to discuss recognition activities being undertaken by each nation. This included discussing the CARE badge and brand as well as wider Recognition activity, and these conversations will continue as we progress our work.