Call for evidence outcome

Care workforce pathway for adult social care: call for evidence

Updated 10 January 2024

Applies to England

Executive summary

This call for evidence will inform the development of a new care workforce pathway for adult social care (referred to as ‘the pathway’). Over the coming months, we will work with people who work in and draw on adult social care, to co-develop a pathway which sets out the skills, knowledge and behaviours that people working in adult social care need to deliver high-quality, personalised, compassionate care and support.

We would like your views on the pathway, including what it should include, how it should be set out and how we can support people working in care, and social care employers, to use it, so that care workers can develop the skills, knowledge and behaviours to become experts in their field or progress into new roles.

Your views will shape the development of the pathway, the first part of which will focus on staff in direct care roles. We plan to publish this in autumn 2023. We will provide more information on our publication plans in due course.

This call for evidence will run for 8 weeks and is open to everyone.

You can respond:

• as an individual
• on behalf of someone else
• on behalf of an organisation

The call for evidence closes at 11.45pm on 31 May 2023

Ministerial foreword

Every day our 1.6 million-strong adult social care workforce provides vital care and support to people of all ages and with diverse needs, including mental health conditions, physical disabilities, learning disabilities, autism and dementia. Care workers are essential to those who draw on care and support, helping them maintain their quality of life, independence and connection to the things that matter to them.

Adult social care is also a significant economic contributor - Skills for Care has estimated that adult social care contributed at least £51.5 billion to the economy in England during the financial year 2021 to 2022. The workforce is larger than the NHS, construction, transport and hospitality sectors, with the number of jobs in adult social care set to grow by almost one third by 2035. Such a large and diverse workforce offers exciting opportunities for people with the right skills and values to enter, stay and develop a career in adult social care.

Yet despite the potential to build rewarding careers, the adult social care workforce continues to experience challenges in recruiting and retaining staff with the right skills, behaviours and experience. This can impact on the quality of care and support people receive, as well as on the morale of the remaining workforce. While most employers recognise the importance of investing in learning and development, the lack of a universal career structure and clearly defined pathways in adult social care means people’s skills and experience are not always being properly recognised.

That is why we have launched this call for evidence to develop the first ever national care workforce pathway for adult social care. We want to hear from people who work in, or draw on, adult social care and support, as well as our national partners and stakeholders, to help us co-develop the pathway to make sure it reflects:

• the knowledge, skills, values and behaviours needed to work in adult social care
• the career opportunities and progression routes across the system
• what’s needed to help embed the pathway so that it becomes a recognised benchmark across adult social care

Alongside this call for evidence, we have also published Next steps to put people at the heart of care, setting out progress and further actions to deliver our 10-year vision for adult social care, including £250 million of investment in workforce skills, training and career development.

For now, I would encourage you to contribute to this call for evidence - your valuable responses will help us develop a professional pathway for the adult social care workforce and make sure it gets the recognition it deserves.

Helen Whately MP
Minister for Social Care

Introduction

We set out our 10-year vision for the adult social care workforce in our white paper, People at the Heart of Care, published in December 2021. This included the commitment to work with our adult social care colleagues, including employers, the workforce and people who draw on care and support, to co-develop a universal framework setting out the knowledge and skills needed to work in adult social care, as well as a clear career structure for the workforce. We also committed to exploring options to embed the framework consistently across the sector so that it becomes a recognised tool for describing all adult social care roles.

Next steps to put people at the heart of care, published alongside this call for evidence, provides an update on our white paper commitments, reaffirming that this government remains fully committed to that shared vision, including the delivery of the care workforce pathway for adult social care.

Good-quality learning and development, and opportunities for staff to consolidate skills and experience and develop their careers, helps to retain skilled people with the right values, which can have a significant impact on the quality of care and support people receive.

Our vision in the white paper and in ‘Next steps to put people at the heart of care’ placed a renewed emphasis on the need for high-quality care that should be delivered at the right time and place for the individual. For some people, this will be residential care. However, we know that more can be done to enable people to live fulfilling lives in their own homes and in the community.

To make this vision a reality, we need to think afresh about the mix of roles, skills and expertise needed, both now and in the future, in a way which puts people at the centre of decisions about their care.

1.6 million people work in adult social care in England, supporting people with diverse needs at home, in the community and in residential settings (Skills for Care workforce data, 2021 to 2022). People working in adult social care are highly skilled in these roles which, at their core, support people to maintain their health, wellbeing and independence to allow them to remain connected with the important things in life, including relationships, family and their communities, and enabling people to have choice and control over their lives.

While the turnover rate for care workers is too high, at 36.1%, two-thirds of people who move roles stay within adult social care. We want people working in adult social care to be recognised as the skilled professionals they are and to improve people’s perception and experience of a career in care. This means supporting people to develop the skills they need, to feel empowered to deliver high-quality care and to develop and progress in their careers, if that is right for them.

Career structures and pathways are key to attracting and keeping people in adult social care roles - they can give people direction and reassurance in their choices for learning and development, which in turn improves their confidence and equips them for new opportunities and developments. Although many employers have developed their own career structures and pathways, we still have no universal career structure or clear articulation of the level of expertise and responsibility needed to deliver high-quality, personalised and increasingly complex care and support.

The care workforce pathway will reflect the skills, behaviours and expertise needed to deliver excellent care and set clear expectations about what high-quality care looks like so that, in time, it becomes a recognised benchmark for all adult social care roles.

The pathway will also help ensure that employers and people working in adult social care are investing in the right training and development. We know how important development is to retaining people who have both the right skills and values. Skills for Care workforce data, 2021 to 2022 highlighted a reduction of nearly 10 percentage points in the average turnover among care workers who received a high level of training and development, compared to those care workers who received minimal training. This highlights that continued investment in staff training can have a positive impact on retention rates.

The care workforce pathway for adult social care

The pathway we have set out in this call for evidence is a proposal for how the adult social care workforce might be structured. It includes 4 broad categories of role:

Care and support practitioner

This describes people who are new to adult social care or returning to the workforce after a period of time away. We would expect people in these roles to be in the first 12 to 18 months of their first roles in adult social care and be building the skills and knowledge needed for a career in care. This might include, for example, completing the new Care Certificate qualification, which is currently being developed, as well as other induction and mandatory training. After this, we would expect people to have consolidated their skills and experience and progress into the advanced care and support practitioner role, if appropriate.

Advanced care and support practitioner

This describes people who have gained sufficient skills and experience in care and support practitioner roles in adult social care. People in these roles will have completed their Care Certificate and will be developing, or hold, more knowledge and expertise. They may be working towards a qualification, doing training to develop more expert skills, or considering progression into more senior roles, either into senior care and support practitioner roles, to develop management and leadership skills, or into a practice leader or specialist practitioner roles, where they can apply enhanced knowledge and expertise in their chosen fields of care and support.

Senior care and support practitioner

This describes people who have, or are developing, leadership skills. They are likely to be supervising care and support practitioners and advanced care and support practitioners, including people management.

Practice leader or specialist practitioner

This describes people who have specialist expertise in their specific area of care and support. This might include people who have or are working towards a specialist qualification, or with enhanced knowledge, either of a specific condition or disability or other areas. We also want to explore how we can create new roles, for example an enhanced healthcare role.

For each role category, the pathway will set out:

• the behaviours, knowledge and skills people in those roles should have or, where applicable, be working towards
• the responsibilities people might be expected to perform in that role category
• any relevant experience people might be expected to demonstrate
• the opportunities to develop expertise or progress into other roles

It will also propose a universal set of values for the whole adult social care workforce.

We will develop the pathway in stages, starting with those in direct care roles (described in the Skills for Care workforce report as ‘care worker’ and ‘care and support practitioner’ in this call for evidence). This is by far the most common category of job role in the adult social care workforce, with an estimated 860,000 roles, representing over half (53%) of all filled posts in 2021 to 2022 (Skills for Care, 2021 to 2022).

Following implementation of the pathway for direct care roles in autumn 2023, further phases of the pathway development will begin, focusing on other roles such as personal assistants and registered managers. We will also work with our partners and stakeholders to extend the pathway to make sure it reflects wider opportunities and pathways in adult social care, including in local authorities and the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector, as well as other models of care, such as those proposed by Shared Lives.

The pathway will help define what ‘good care’ looks like and what makes each role category different, and will support people to become experts in their chosen area of care and support, and see how they can progress into more senior roles, depending on agreement between the employee and employer. It will show the different roles and career routes across the adult social care workforce, as well as recognising that not everyone wants to progress into more senior or management roles. Rather, it is about supporting everyone to consolidate and develop the skills and knowledge they need to deliver high-quality care.

The pathway is also not intended to be a linear process - people will enter the workforce at various points in their career, according to their skills, experience, interests and career goals. It is about enabling people to see where their role fits within the wider workforce and the opportunities available to help them develop and progress. It will also help employers and staff to take pride in their work, increase respect and recognition for their skills and expertise and help create a professionalised workforce providing high-quality care.

We know that realising the ambitions of the pathway will only be possible if it is co-developed in partnership with people who draw on care and support and those with experience of working in adult social care. We will develop the pathway in phases, designing and testing it at each stage with people who draw on care and support and experts in providing care and support, including members of the workforce and employers.

To develop this into the full pathway in the coming months, we want to understand more about the combination of knowledge, skills, values and behaviours which will help care workers in all roles, settings and models to provide high-quality care and support, now and in the future. As we work with our partners and people with lived experience to co-develop the pathway, we will also explore approaches to implementation, including further tools and resources which may be needed to make sure the pathway and standards support existing arrangements for staff recruitment, induction and training, including international recruitment and enabling professional and career development. We will also explore how aspects of the pathway can be tailored to suit specific adult social care contexts and settings.

We will also consider how professional frameworks for social workers, nurses and other registered roles might interact with this pathway throughout the development period. We want to bring together existing skills, competency frameworks and pathways for social care specialisms, as well as acknowledging the variety of roles and career pathways across the wider adult social care system, such as commissioning, finance and senior management and leadership development.

The intention is to build on what works as part of developing a universal career pathway for the adult social care profession. And as we move to a more integrated health and care system we will work with our NHS colleagues to ensure we create parity between equivalent roles in health and adult social care so we can build a more agile workforce, with the skills and opportunities to work across the wider system.

What the pathway will look like

Figure 1 below sets out how the care workforce pathway could look, including the broad categories of role set out above.

Figure 1: tree diagram outlining the care workforce pathway

We have also included an example below to demonstrate the detail that could be included for each particular category, including the type of content we would expect it to include.

Role category example: care and support practitioner

Description

This describes people who are new to adult social care or returning to the workforce after a period of time away. We would expect people in this category to be in the first 12 to 18 months of their first role in adult social care and be building the skills and knowledge needed for a career in care. This might include, for example, completing the new Care Certificate qualification, which is currently being developed, as well as other induction and mandatory training. After this, we would expect people to have consolidated their skills and experience and progress into advanced care and support practitioner roles, if appropriate.

Current roles

This section will outline the current roles in adult social care that could be included in this job category. These are likely to be related job roles that share similar responsibilities or require similar knowledge and skills to undertake the role.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities are the things that a person is required to do as part of a job. This section will include the responsibilities care and support practitioners are likely to undertake as part of their role. There may be some differences to the responsibilities depending on the type of role or the setting in which the role is performed.

Values

Values are the beliefs and views that people hold about what is right or wrong. This section will outline the values that are required to work in adult social care.

Behaviours

Behaviours are the way that values are demonstrated in practice. This section will outline the behaviours required to work as a care and support practitioner.

Experience

This is the practical experience that someone will have before becoming a care and support practitioner. Experience can be gained in many ways, including inside or outside of a care setting, in another job, outside of the workforce, or through education.

Knowledge and skills

Knowledge refers to what someone needs to understand to undertake the responsibilities of the role. Skills are the ability to apply that knowledge in practice. This section will include the knowledge and skills a care and support practitioner is likely to undertake as part of their role. There may be some differences to the knowledge and skills depending on the type of role of the setting in which the role is performed.

Opportunities to develop

This section will outline the opportunities a care and support practitioner has to develop within their role or to progress into another role. This could be through continued professional development or training to progress, using the options outlined in the learning and development options section of this document.

Other role categories would follow the same format, providing a consistent understanding across all role categories.

What the care workforce pathway will mean for adult social care

The statements below describe how we expect the pathway to benefit those who provide or draw on adult social care, as well as policy makers and organisations who provide training and development for the adult social care workforce.

People who access care and support

Because of the new care workforce pathway:

• I will have better quality care and support because of the increased levels of knowledge and skills in the sector
• I will have better care and support because social care employers will be better able to recruit people with the right values and behaviours
• I will be supported by people who are competent and confident in their ability to deliver high-quality care and support
• I will be able to easily see and understand what skills and knowledge the people who support me should have
• I will be able to easily see and understand the values the people who support me should have, and the behaviours I should expect to see
• my family and friends will also be able to see and understand the skills, knowledge, values and behaviours the people who support me should have
• I will have a say in who is recruited to support me
• I will be able to co-develop and co-deliver development opportunities for the people who support me

The adult social care workforce

My role

Because of the new care workforce pathway:

• I will understand where my role sits in the workforce, as well as where other roles sit
• I will understand the values required to work in adult social care
• I will understand the behaviours I need to demonstrate while doing my job
• I will understand the knowledge and skills I need to do my job and deliver high-quality care and support
• I will have improved competence and will be confident in my ability to do my job in the way that is expected of me
• I will be able to identify what training is mandatory as part of my role

The wider workforce

Because of the new care workforce pathway:

• I will know the values I can expect to see in my colleagues and managers
• I will know the behaviours I can expect to see in my colleagues and managers
• I will understand the knowledge and skills needed in other roles in adult social care

Developing within my role and career progression

Because of the new care workforce pathway:

• I will be able to easily find out what skills and knowledge I can develop if I want to progress into another role in adult social care and how these will be assessed and recorded
• I will know about learning and development opportunities that will help me to develop and progress, or refresh my skills
• I will be able to see clear progression pathways into and through the sector
• I will be able to be aspirational in planning my own career and will be empowered to make my next career choice
• I will understand what learning and development is relevant to my current or future role, and I know my manager or future employer will also be able to understand this

Adult social care employers

Understanding the expectations of my workforce

Because of the new care workforce pathway:

• I will understand the knowledge and skills that my employees should have to provide high-quality care and support
• I will understand the values my staff should have
• I will understand the behaviours my staff must demonstrate while doing their job
• I will understand where the roles in my organisation fit within the workforce and how they relate to roles in other organisations, and I can explain this to my employees

Recruiting and developing my workforce

Because of the new care workforce pathway:

• I will understand how to recruit and talk about roles
• I will be able to hire people with the right values which will improve the quality of recruitment in my organisation
• I will be able to better explain the career development opportunities available in my organisation to attract new recruits
• I will understand what learning and development, support and opportunities my staff may need in their jobs, and I will be able to develop and support staff effectively because of this

Efficiency and value for money

Because of the new care workforce pathway:

• I will be confident that commissioners and regulators recognise and accept the content of the pathway
• I will be confident that the pathway will enable me to identify training solutions which are high quality, meet the development needs of my staff and provide me with value of money
• there will be less need for me to pay for staff to re-take training because previous training will be more easily recognised, therefore saving costs
• I will see improved retention rates in my organisation and a reduction in recruitment costs due to my ability to better attract and retain staff
• I will see cost savings and better value for money through the simplification of the training landscape, helping me to become a more informed purchaser

National policy and systems leaders

A streamlined market

Because of the new care workforce pathway:

• there will be a more streamlined training market for government investment, local authorities and integrated care systems (ICSs) reflecting the clarity that will bring to the training needs of the workforce
• I will understand what skills, knowledge, behaviours and values are needed within the workforce to provide high-quality care and support and meet the needs of citizens
• I will be able to identify which available learning and development solutions support the specific training needs of the workforce
• I will be able to identify where there are gaps in the available learning and development provision

Efficiency and value for money

Because of the new care workforce pathway:

• I will see savings from more efficient services because of the reduced duplication of training
• I will see savings from reduced turnover of staff
• I will see savings from reduced backfill requirements
• I will be confident that I can identify learning and development solutions and provision that meets a quality standard
• I will be able to monitor the outputs and impact of investment on vacancies, turnover and learning and development spend efficiency

Identifying policies

Because of the new care workforce pathway:

• I will be able to identify priorities for national learning and development policy
• as the needs of citizens changes, I will be confident that the pathway will be updated and refreshed and a collective understanding of the necessary skills, knowledge, behaviours and values will be maintained
• I will be able to see any gaps between the current skills, knowledge and behaviours of the workforce and what is needed to provide high-quality care and support and meet the needs of citizens

Learning providers

Because of the new care workforce pathway:

• I will understand what skills and knowledge care workers need and the behaviours they need to develop
• I will understand what learning and development solutions employers will want to buy
• I will be able to understand the skills and knowledge learning and development solutions that are being prioritised by government and other funders
• I will understand what the expectations of quality training are

About the call for evidence

We want to make sure the pathway reflects the breadth and diversity of adult social care and its contribution to enabling those who draw on care and support to live with greater choice, control and independence. It is essential that the pathway is co-developed with people who work in and draw on adult social care, so that it reflects the realities of receiving or providing adult social care, builds on existing good practice, and can grow and develop as our expectations change.

Aims of the call for evidence

To make sure that the pathway meets the needs of the workforce and those who employ them, now and in the future, we want the call for evidence to provide examples of what is working well, what needs to change, where there are barriers and challenges and how we can address these.

The call for evidence will test whether you agree with our approach by asking your views on:

• the structure of the pathway, including whether it represents the adult social care sector and the range of different roles and careers within it
• the type of information the pathway should include
• how the pathway will benefit you, and the sector as a whole
• what would encourage people to use the pathway, or stop people from using it

In addition to hearing your views on the proposed pathway we have set out, we would also be interested in examples of good practice that you know of, or are using already.

Call for evidence questions

The following questions are all marked as ‘optional’ on the survey.

Understanding my role

Question

Looking at the statements that follow, please identify how much you agree or disagree with each of the statements relevant to you. Please select one of the following options:

• strongly agree
• agree
• neither agree nor disagree
• disagree
• strongly disagree

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will understand where my role sits in the workforce, as well as where other roles sit.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will understand the values required to work in adult social care.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will understand the behaviours I need to demonstrate while doing my job.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will understand the knowledge and skills I need to do my job and deliver high-quality care and support.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will have improved competence and will be confident in my ability to do my job in the way that is expected of me.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will be able to identify what training is mandatory as part of my role.

Understanding the wider workforce

Question

Looking at the statements that follow, please identify how much you agree or disagree with each of the statements relevant to you. Please select one of the following options:

• strongly agree
• agree
• neither agree nor disagree
• disagree
• strongly disagree

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will know the values I can expect to see in my colleagues and managers.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will know the behaviours I can expect to see in my colleagues and managers.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will understand the knowledge and skills needed in other roles in adult social care.

Developing within my role and career progression

Question

Looking at the statements that follow, please identify how much you agree or disagree with each of the statements relevant to you. Please select one of the following options:

• strongly agree
• agree
• neither agree nor disagree
• disagree
• strongly disagree

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will be able to easily find out what skills and knowledge I can develop if I want to progress into another role in adult social care and how these will be assessed and recorded.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will know about learning and development opportunities that will help me to develop and progress, or refresh my skills.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will be able to see clear progression pathways into and through the sector.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will be able to be aspirational in planning my own career and will be empowered to make my next career choice.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will understand what learning and development is relevant to my current or future role, and I know my manager or future employer will also be able to understand this because of the pathway.

Understanding the expectations of my workforce

Question

Looking at the statements that follow, please identify how much you agree or disagree with each of the statements relevant to you. Please select one of the following options:

• strongly agree
• agree
• neither agree nor disagree
• disagree
• strongly disagree

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will understand the knowledge and skills that my employees should have to provide high-quality care and support.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will understand the values my staff should have.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will understand the behaviours my staff must demonstrate while doing their job.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will understand where the roles in my organisation fit within the workforce and how they relate to roles in other organisations, and I can explain this to my employees.

Recruiting and developing my workforce

Question

Looking at the statements that follow, please identify how much you agree or disagree with each of the statements relevant to you. Please select one of the following options:

• strongly agree
• agree
• neither agree nor disagree
• disagree
• strongly disagree

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will understand how to recruit and talk about roles.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will be able to hire people with the right values which will improve the quality of recruitment in my organisation.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will be able to better explain the career development opportunities available in my organisation to attract new recruits.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will understand what learning and development, support, and opportunities my staff may need in their jobs, and I will be able to develop and support staff effectively because of this.

Efficiency and value for money

Question

Looking at the statements that follow, please identify how much you agree or disagree with each of the statements relevant to you. Please select one of the following options:

• strongly agree
• agree
• neither agree nor disagree
• disagree
• strongly disagree

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will be confident that commissioners and regulators recognise and accept the content of the pathway.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will be confident that the pathway will enable me to identify training solutions which are high quality, meet the development needs of my staff and provide me with value of money.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, there will be less need for me to pay for staff to re-take training because previous training will be more easily recognised, therefore saving costs.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will see improved retention rates in my organisation and a reduction in recruitment costs due to my ability to better attract and retain staff.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will see cost savings and better value for money through the simplification of the training landscape, helping me to become a more informed purchaser.

Quality of care

Question

Looking at the statements that follow, please identify how much you agree or disagree with each of the statements relevant to you. Please select one of the following options:

• strongly agree
• agree
• neither agree nor disagree
• disagree
• strongly disagree

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will have better quality care and support because of the increased levels of knowledge and skills in the sector.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will have better care and support because social care employers will be able to better recruit people with the right values and behaviours.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will be supported by people who are competent and confident in their ability to deliver high-quality care and support.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will be able to easily see and understand what skills and knowledge the people who support me should have.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will be able to easily see and understand the values the people who support me should have, and the behaviours I should expect to see.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, my family and friends will also be able to see and understand the skills, knowledge, values and behaviours the people who support me should have.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will have a say in who is recruited to support me.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will be able to co-develop and co-deliver development opportunities for the people who support me.

A streamlined market

Question

Looking at the statements that follow, please identify how much you agree or disagree with each of the statements relevant to you. Please select one of the following options:

• strongly agree
• agree
• neither agree nor disagree
• disagree
• strongly disagree

Because of the new care workforce pathway, there will be a more streamlined training market for government investment, local authorities and integrated care systems (ICSs), reflecting the clarity that will bring to the training needs of the workforce.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will understand what skills, knowledge, behaviours and values are needed within the workforce to provide high-quality care and support and meet the needs of citizens.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will be able to identify which available learning and development solutions support the specific training needs of the workforce.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will be able to identify where there are gaps in the available learning and development provision.

Efficiency and value for money

Question

Looking at the statements that follow, please identify how much you agree or disagree with each of the statements relevant to you. Please select one of the following options:

• strongly agree
• agree
• neither agree nor disagree
• disagree
• strongly disagree

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will see savings from more efficient services because of the reduced duplication of training.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will see savings from reduced turnover of staff.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will see savings from reduced backfill requirements.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will be confident that I can identify learning and development solutions and provision that meets a quality standard.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will be able to monitor the outputs and impact of investment on vacancies, turnover and learning and development spend efficiency.

Identifying policies

Question

Looking at the statements that follow, please identify how much you agree or disagree with each of the statements relevant to you. Please select one of the following options:

• strongly agree
• agree
• neither agree nor disagree
• disagree
• strongly disagree

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will be able to identify priorities for national learning and development policy.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, as the needs of citizens changes, I will be confident that the pathway will be updated and refreshed and a collective understanding of the necessary skills, knowledge, behaviours and values will be maintained.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will be able to see any gaps between the current skills, knowledge and behaviours of the workforce and what is needed to provide high-quality care and support and meet the needs of citizens.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will understand what skills and knowledge care workers need and the behaviours they need to develop.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will understand what learning and development solutions employers will want to buy.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will be able to understand the skills and knowledge learning and development solutions that are being prioritised by government and other funders.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will understand what the expectations of quality training are.

Learning and development

Question

Looking at the statements that follow, please identify how much you agree or disagree with each of the statements relevant to you. Please select one of the following options:

• strongly agree
• agree
• neither agree nor disagree
• disagree
• strongly disagree

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will understand what skills and knowledge care workers need and the behaviours they need to develop.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will understand what learning and development solutions employers will want to buy.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will be able to understand the skills and knowledge learning and development solutions that are being prioritised by government and other funders.

Because of the new care workforce pathway, I will understand what the expectations of quality training are.

Question

Are there any other benefits, not included in the previous question, that the pathway would provide you with?

The 4 categories of role

Question

If the workforce was to be structured differently, does the pathway describe the right structure for care and support roles in the adult social care sector in the future?

For example, does it include the correct number of workforce stages and role categories?

• strongly agree
• agree
• neither agree nor disagree
• disagree
• strongly disagree

Question

To what extent do you agree or disagree that the role categories for care and support and the description of the categories included in the care workforce pathway match how you would like the workforce to be structured?

• strongly agree
• agree
• neither agree nor disagree
• disagree
• strongly disagree

If you disagree or strongly disagree, please give your thoughts on how the workforce might be better structured.

Question

Do the role categories for care and support and the description of the categories included in the new care workforce pathway match how you would like the workforce to be structured?

• yes
• no

If you answered ‘no’, what would be the correct role category titles?

Question

Do the information categories provided in the care workforce pathway for adult social care outlined provide all the information you want the pathway to have?

For example, knowledge and skills, values and behaviours, learning and development.

• yes
• no

Question

Is there anything that is included in the pathway that you would remove?

Question

What would you change about the information that is included in the pathway?

Question

Do you have any examples of good practice in how competency, knowledge and skills, or values and behaviours are currently defined within the adult social care workforce?

• yes
• no

Please provide examples and explain why this is good practice.

Do not share any personal information that could be used to identify you.

You may upload a document as supporting evidence.

Question

What would encourage your organisation to use and implement the new care workforce pathway for adult social care?

Select all that apply:

• the pathway supports a wide range of accessibility needs
• it is easy to find and access the pathway
• there are clear materials and guidance on how to use the pathway
• it is easy adapt or map the pathway to our own organisation or own context, for example post titles that relate to us
• it clearly reflects the variety of settings in adult social care
• it is easy to access any data or information resulting from our use of the pathway
• don’t know
• none of the above
• other

Question

What would stop the new care workforce pathway for adult social care being widely used across your workforce and organisation?

Select all that apply:

• the level of digital skills required to access the pathway
• we have something similar in place already
• skills and knowledge of managers to be able to use the pathway
• if the pathway was seen to be too complex by staff or managers
• time to implement or use the pathway
• nothing would stop the pathway being used in my organisation
• don’t know
• other

If you have indicated you have something similar already in place, are you happy to be contacted about your answer?

• yes
• no
• other

Please provide an email address if you haven’t already done so.

Question

What materials and resources do you think would be useful to support you to use the new care workforce pathway for adult social care?

Select all that apply:

• webinars
• video guides and walkthroughs
• step-by-step guides and checklists
• e-learning
• case studies or user stories
• visual guides or infographics
• other

Question

How would you most like to access the care workforce pathway for adult social care?

Select all that apply:

• a digital platform that is easily accessible and personalised to you, for example on GOV.UK
• an interactive PDF that can be filled in and saved
• a Word document or template
• don’t know
• other

Question

To what extent do you agree or disagree that the title ‘care workforce pathway’ reflects the content of the pathway?

• strongly agree
• agree
• neither agree nor disagree
• disagree
• strongly disagree

How to respond

The aim of this call for evidence is to inform the design, development and implementation of the care workforce pathway for adult social care. You can respond to the call for evidence by completing the online survey.

If you have any further information you would like to share with us about the adult social care workforce more widely, you can contact us:

By email: ascworkforcepathway@dhsc.gov.uk

By post:

Adult Social Care Workforce Reform
Department of Health and Social Care
3rd Floor North
39 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0EU

Any additional information may not be reviewed as part of the call for evidence but will be considered as part of our wider work.

Taking part in linked engagement

Alongside this call for evidence, we are undertaking a series of engagement events. To find out more about these events or to register your interest, please contact ascworkforcepathway@dhsc.gov.uk.

Next steps

The evidence gathered through this exercise will inform the next phase of development of the pathway, the first part of which we plan to publish in autumn 2023. We will provide more information on our publication plans in due course.

Privacy notice

Summary of initiative and policy

The call for evidence supports the development of the national care workforce pathway for adult social care. This will provide the sector with a new, national career pathway which will articulate what a career in social care means by defining the skills, values and behaviours needed to perform different caring roles in adult social care.

The pathway will distinguish between the different levels of expertise that someone entering the workforce for the first time should expect to have and develop, compared with someone with many years of experience or specialist skills and knowledge. We want the social care workforce to be recognised as the professional workforce it is, and to improve people’s perception and experience of a career in care which should ultimately help recruitment and retention rates. This means supporting people to feel empowered to deliver high-quality care, and to develop and progress in their careers.

We are undertaking the call for evidence to engage with the sector to understand how to create the pathway and what impact it will have, and to test our assumptions. We want to make sure the pathway reflects the breadth and diversity of the social care sector and its contribution to people’s quality of life and wellbeing.

Data controller

Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is the data controller.

What personal data we collect

As part of the call for evidence we will ask respondents if they would like to provide an email address for further contact. We may also collect names to allow us to identify the correct person when we contact them.

How we use your data (purposes)

The call for evidence confirms in what instances you may be contacted via your email address.

Collecting this personal data will allow us to contact respondents for any further information about their responses.

Legal basis for processing personal data

Under Article 6 of the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are: (e) Necessary task in the public interest or controller’s official authority.

Data processors and other recipients of personal data

We are working with Skills for Care in the development of the pathway this call for evidence relates to, and will share the data from the call for evidence with Skills for Care for the purpose of this work.

International data transfers and storage locations

The information will be stored in DHSC secure systems in the UK.

Retention and disposal policy

We anticipate retention of data for 2.5 years to enable time for analysis of responses and for any further correspondence with respondents. The data will then be destroyed or securely disposed of.

How we keep your data secure

The information will be stored in DHSC secure servers.

Your rights as a data subject

By law, data subjects have a number of rights and this processing does not take away or reduce these rights under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679) and the UK Data Protection Act 2018 applies.

These rights are:

1. the right to get copies of information - individuals have the right to ask for a copy of any information about them that is used

2. the right to get information corrected - individuals have the right to ask for any information held about them that they think is inaccurate, to be corrected

3. the right to limit how the information is used - individuals have the right to ask for any of the information held about them to be restricted, for example, if they think inaccurate information is being used

4. the right to object to the information being used - individuals can ask for any information held about them to not be used. However, this is not an absolute right, and continued use of the information may be necessary, with individuals being advised if this is the case

5. the right to get information deleted - this is not an absolute right, and continued use of the information may be necessary, with individuals being advised if this is the case

Comments or complaints

Anyone unhappy or wishing to complain about how personal data is used as part of this programme should contact data_protection@dhsc.gov.uk in the first instance or write to:

Data Protection Officer
Department of Health and Social Care
1st Floor North
39 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0EU

Anyone who is still not satisfied can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. The postal address is:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Automated decision-making or profiling

No decision will be made about individuals solely based on automated decision-making (where a decision is taken about them using an electronic system without human involvement) which has a significant impact on them.

Changes to this policy

This privacy notice is kept under regular review, and new versions will be available on our privacy notice page on our website. This privacy notice was last updated on 4 April 2023.