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Occupational therapy

Access resources and information for occupational therapists who are working in social care, with a particular focus on professional development. We work in partnership with the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT).

Identifying placements for occupational therapy learners in social care settings

We’ve produced a guide called ‘Optimising occupational therapy placements across social care’ that explores the benefits, opportunities and practicalities of occupational therapy practice-based learning in social care settings.

If you’re an occupational therapy practitioner or a practice educator, it will help you to identify placement opportunities within the organisation and demonstrate how you and your team can plan, implement and sustain practice placement opportunities to support our future workforce.

Find out more and download the guide

Occupational therapy workforce event: Tools for influencing future workforce and practice

Thursday 2 May, 10:00-15:00, virtual event

This event is for all occupational therapists working in social care. It will bring together a range of speakers from different organisations who will provide updates on current strategies in the world of occupational therapy, and will help to increase your confidence in working systematically within the sector.

Our speakers:

Suzanne Rastrick OBE, Chief Allied Health Professions Officer for England
Dr. Anita Mottram, Vice Chair of the National Principal and Strategic Lead Occupational Therapists Network
Julie Statton, National Professional Lead, Skills for Care
Carolyn Hay, Head of Education, Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT)
Suhailah Mohamed, Head of Practice & Workforce, Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT)

At the event, you will:

find out how our ‘Occupational therapy placements guide’ can help you deliver successful student placements in a social care setting
learn more about the Royal College of Occupational Therapist’s workforce strategy
better understand how to undertake Care Act and Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) assessments
become more familiar with the principles of practice-based learning
explore best practice in relation to equality, diversity and inclusion
have an opportunity to network with colleagues from across the sector.

Find out more and book

Learning and development framework for occupational therapists

PDF - 393Kb

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Occupational therapists can use this framework, developed in partnership with RCOT, to provide evidence of their learning and development for induction, employment, retention and appraisal processes.

The framework is based on the four pillars of practice, which are widely used to guide the career and learning and development of occupational therapists.

Guidance for employers and managers of occupational therapists in social care

PDF - 194Kb

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This guidance supports employers and managers to get the best out of the learning and development framework for occupational therapists.

Occupational therapist degree apprenticeship

The apprenticeship standard and assessment plan has been approved and published by the Institute for Apprenticeships (IfA). Learn more on the IfA website.

Key points

The apprentice will complete a BSc (Hons) degree in occupational therapy or level 7 qualification approved by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and accredited by the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) where the apprentice already holds a level 6 degree.
A minimum of 20% of the apprentices paid working hours must be spent on off-the-job training.
The training will typically take 48 months.
Levy paying organisations will be able to use their apprenticeship levy to fund the occupational therapist degree apprenticeship training and end-point assessment cost.
Non-levy organisations will pay 10% of the agreed cost, with the Government paying the rest (as long as the total cost is no more than the government-assigned cap).
The apprentice will be assessed at the end of their training. The end-point tests will form the final point of their degree.

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