Skills for Care launches new carers guide for employers

News release 20 June 2012

Skills for Care has launched Carers in your Workforce Matters to help employers support unpaid carers in the adult social care workforce.

The new guide is launched as part of Skills for Care's contribution to Carers Week, and has been developed after extensive consultation with employers and carers who also work in a variety of care roles.

The easy to use ten-part guide uses the personal experience of carers as they describe how they often struggle to combine their caring and professional responsibilities.

"Our sector cannot afford to lose highly trained professionals because of lack of support to enable them to balance their caring commitments with their work life. This guide will help employers support and retain their staff who have personal caring responsibilities," says Skills for Care CEO Sharon Allen.

"Reading through the experiences in the guide, it is clear that carers contribute a huge amount of knowledge to our sector, and this practical guide will be really useful to employers."

The Carers in your Workforce Matter resources cover key areas including recruiting, employing and retaining unpaid carers, carers' legal rights, learning and development for employees who are carers and raising awareness across organisations.

Careers in your Workforce Matters can be downloaded at www.skillsforcare.org.uk/carers.

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 nearly 1.56 million workers spread over 48,300 establishments employing care staff. Skills for Care 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 area networks are major brokers of funding for social care workforce development.