Policy Research Programme Social Care Workforce Research Initiative Marie McNay and Hazel Qureshi

Policy Research Programme

Core adult social care workforce 922,000 people, 30,000 employers 12% local authorities - area office/field work staff 18% domiciliary care 10% day care services 50% care homes 3% agency staff 7% NHS staff Skills for Care The State of the Social Care Workforce Report 2004

Policy Research Programme Challenges Improving social work practice and education Recruitment and retention problems Improving skill-levels, and numbers of staff with NVQ qualifications Developing and supporting new roles for workers

Policy Research Programme Improving social work practice and education Concerns and information needs Poorer progression rates for BME, and disabled, Social Work students, and possible discrimination against LGB groups Need for information about the experiences of new entrants to the workforce, to continue the degree evaluation

Policy Research Programme Improving social work practice and education Research Questions to be explored Factors affecting progress of minority groups and how programmes do, and should, address these Perceptions of graduates’ preparedness to practice, and the nature of their progress after qualifying Whether the graduates of the 'new' degree meet the standards of social service delivery expected

Policy Research Programme Recruitment and retention Observed pattern of problems  Vary across the country  More acute for certain categories of staff Important consequences  Use of agency staff  Use of staff from outside UK

Policy Research Programme Recruitment and Retention Research questions to be explored  What are factors causing variations  External environmental  Organisational or work environment  Contributions and experiences of:  Agency staff  Staff from outside UK

Policy Research Programme Qualifications and skills Observed patterns  Fragmentation and competition between employers  Failures to meet NVQ targets in some areas, variations in success

Policy Research Programme Qualifications and skills Research questions to be explored  What influences institutional and organisational capacity in training and skill formation?  How can the infrastructure for skills development overcome fragmentation and competition?  What difference has regulation made?

Policy Research Programme New roles for workers Emergence of “support workers”  Covers a range of definitions and roles Integrating health and social care  Structures and roles vary in implementation

Policy Research Programme New roles for workers Research questions to be explored  Support workers -roles, characteristics  Skills for Care “new types of worker” projects already  The Initiative includes a review of what we know  Social care in integrated health and social care settings  Comparative research on social care roles  Links to NHSSDO-funded work on integration

Policy Research Programme The Workforce Research Initiative Overview Projects vary in length from 6 months to three years  Service users (and sometimes carers) involved  Locally in projects  Centrally: user consultants refereed proposals, and will now referee outputs and advise on broader dissemination Findings will be disseminated through publications, conferences, workshops Overview report at the end

Policy Research Programme Distribution of funds by project