By Donna Miller, Manager of Staff Development and Health and Safety, Innovate Trust.
The health and social care sector in Wales is facing a workforce crisis unless the Welsh Government invests more money in apprenticeships or Social Care Wales (SCW) reviews its qualifications system.
Let me explain our dilemma. A 14% funding cut to Welsh Government’s apprenticeship programme earlier this year has resulted in a shortage of Apprenticeships in Health and Social Care for staff to progress from their probationary period.
Under current regulations, new staff are required to register with Social Care Wales (SCW) when they start with us. They must then obtain a Health and Social Care qualification within three years to re-register and prove they are competent to work in the sector. If they don’t achieve a qualification, they will be classed as unfit to practice and their employment could be terminated.
As with many organisations in our sector, we have numerous staff waiting to start a qualification, yet our training provider, ACT, is only able to provide five apprenticeships a month due to their own funding having been reduced. To add perspective, in the past, due to the size of our organisation, we have been allocated up to 20 places per month.
On average, we take on between 10 and 20 new employees every month and currently employ around 100 apprentices. We currently have 40 former Team Leaders who are now classified as Assistant Managers. According to SCW, they must re-register as Managers with the appropriate qualification. If they re-register without the necessary qualification, they will wonder what their future role will be, and potentially, they may take their skills and experience elsewhere.
Staff retention is a real worry if our employees are unable to obtain qualifications to progress their careers. We, as other providers from our sector, are caught in a vicious circle. It is imperative that we maintain a skilled workforce to rightly satisfy the high standards of care required by SCW and the Care Inspectorate Wales, yet there are too few apprenticeship places to enable us to achieve that goal.
Our experience was reflected in data released for February to April by Medr, Wales’ Commission for Tertiary Education and Research, which showed the number of learners beginning a Foundation Apprenticeship in Health and Social Care had dropped by 445 (34%) compared to the same period last year. Those starting an Apprenticeship fell by 160 (27%).
We think there are two possible solutions, or a combination of both, to avert a crisis situation developing: Funding of apprenticeships in our sector needs to be re-evaluated and increased back to at least the previous levels, and/or SCW needs to reconsider the qualification system, in consultation with the Care Inspectorate Wales. If a skilled workforce is to be maintained, then its funding and support mechanisms must be sustained.
Apprenticeship funding is crucial for our charity to ensure that our employees are fully qualified and registered with SCW. The reduction in our training provider’s funding has had a detrimental impact on our staff, because we rely heavily on supported qualifications to maintain a skilled workforce.
It has been encouraging that we have seen a significant increase in job applications this year, and we now employ more than 950 people. But the majority of these new employees are expected to work towards a Health and Social Care Apprenticeship. Without this qualification, there could be an increased risk to the individuals we support, who are some of the most vulnerable in society.
Innovate Trust is one of Wales’ largest providers of support to individuals with a Learning Disability, supplying services throughout the Vale of Glamorgan, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Cardiff and further afield.
Like many other voluntary sector organisations across Wales, we are facing increasing financial pressures related to maintaining the Real Living Wage and the proposed changes to Employer’s National Insurance contributions. Despite these pressures, we will not compromise the high-quality services that we provide.
We deliver a strength-based and person-centred service, working with individuals to live as independently as possible. Whilst offering a wide range of support services, backed up with a myriad of in person and digital activities and opportunities open to all. Everything we do involves supporting and valuing the decisions of the those we support, their families and/or carers.
Leading the way in alternative service provision, we work with our partners and funders to ensure we have the ideas and resources to continue our innovative work. Earlier this year, we were proud to win the Workplace Change Makers Award in Inspire! Adult Learning Awards 2024.
The 300 plus individuals we support have a wide range of impairments and span all generations This is why the continuous training and professional development of our staff is of such vital importance, to ensure all those we support receive a consistently high-quality service that can be relied upon.
Learning is a lifelong journey which can enrich our lives in many ways. Now, more than ever, it’s essential that we support our employees to enhance their skills and knowledge, creating a brighter future for the individuals we support.
People don’t come into this sector for the money, they come into it because they want to make a difference to somebody’s life. We just want our staff and the vulnerable people we support to thrive and grow.
