Skills for Care publish new CPD guide for adult social care workers

New release 8 September 2010

Skills for Care has published a new easy to use guide to support continuing professional development (CPD) of more than 1.6 million workers in adult social care.

Keeping Up The Good Work gives practical help to employers of all sizes, including people who directly employ their own care workers, on how to develop their staff's knowledge and skills to meet the challenges ahead for the sector.

The guide gives an overview of what kinds of activities can count towards continuing professional development such as job shadowing and mentoring, as well as formal learning. It will help employers to plan their workers' CPD and how to effectively evaluate it, and provides templates of simple forms to help organise what needs to be done. There is also a two-page guide for employers to give to workers themselves.

Better recruitment and staff retention are emphasised as one of the benefits of CPD, as workers will be keen to join and stay with organisations that give them opportunities for learning that express the pride in their work which is so common among social care workers.

Keeping Up The Good Work also includes 14 short case studies of different types of CPD in action across adult social care, from public, private and voluntary sector organisations and from people who employ their own care workers. Many of the examples are drawn from those who have been successful in the Skills for Care 'Accolades' awards celebrating excellence in social care workforce development.

"Skills for Care has always believed that learning should be continuous through the career of adult social care workers, so we've worked hard with employers to produce this practical guide to CPD to help their workers reach their full potential," says Skills for Care CEO Sharon Allen.

"It is specifically designed to help busy employers plan effective CPD that enhances the skills and knowledge of their workers who in turn will have more confidence in delivering care to the very highest standards in a rapidly changing sector."

The publication replaces Skills for Care's 2006 CPD strategy, framework and employer's guide and its 2009 CPD case studies publication. Readers familiar with those works will recognise various elements from them in Keeping Up The Good Work but, at 28 pages, Skills for Care has made the new guide much shorter so it is easier to use.

Keeping Up The Good Work is published free and can be accessed here, where there are also the short guide for workers and Word versions of the forms for employers to adapt to their own organisations' needs.

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Media enquiries:

Paul Clarke: 0113 2411297/ 07977519287. paul.clarke@skillsforcare.org.uk

Notes to editors:

1. Skills for Care is the employment-led strategic body for workforce development in adult social care in England, which is licensed jointly with its UK allies by UKCES to be the 'Skills for Care and Development' Sector Skills Council (SSC). Both organisations are chaired by Professor David Croisdale-Appleby. The other members of the SSC are the Children's Workforce Development Council (also for England), the General Social Care Council, the Scottish Social Services Council, the Care Council for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Social Care Council.
2. Skills for Care forms a strategic overview of workforce needs in adult social care, which accounts for more than1.6 million workers spread over 40,600 establishments employing care staff. Skills for Care board members are drawn from groups representing public, private and voluntary sector care employers, along with representatives of staff, trainers, service users and informal carers. Social care includes residential care, domiciliary care and social work with all its specialisms.
3. Skills for Care and its SSC allies promote and develop the social care sector's National Occupational Standards which are statements of competence that describe 'best practice'.
4. Skills for Care regional committees are major brokers of funding for social care workforce development.