One year of the Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care in England

This is an opportunity to build the workforce of the future. We project that we’re going to need an extra 540,000 people working in social care by 2040 and the Workforce Strategy is a way for us to achieve that.

The remarkable thing about this is that people representing 152 local authorities; 18,500 providers; working in 38,000 settings; with the NHS; with higher education, have come together to develop the Strategy and are now wanting to see it through.

It gives us good support and a clear steer. It chimes with our issues across Greater Manchester and where we should focus our efforts, and there are some really good resources to support that.

What I loved is that it was really around the workforce - which shone through; it wasn’t being written by people that had never worked in social care. It was all around ‘what do the workforce need?’, ‘What do the workforce want?’

What excites me most about the Workforce Strategy is we’re in a moment where we can create and tell a better story; a story about people, place and relationships.

I think the Workforce Strategy has created a real buzz and what excites me most is the way people have come together over what’s quite a disparate sector.

It’s a really good example of the work we can all be getting on with together and that doesn’t require Government for lots of it.

I’m so passionate about the sector. This is an amazing sector, but we need to tell people about it, and I think the Strategy does that. With this Strategy you can really see how you can form a career here.