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FUTURE SKILLS ISSUES AFFECTINGINDUSTRY SECTORS IN WALES
Social Care Sector
PHOTO REDACTED DUE TO THIRD PARTY RIGHTS OR OTHER LEGAL ISSUES
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Social Care Sector
Social Care Sector
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FUTURE SKILLS ISSUES AFFECTING INDUSTRY SECTORS IN WALES
Contents
Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p4
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p6
2. The Social Care Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p7
3. Sector Skills Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p14
4. Action on Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p18
5. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p19
Annex A: References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p21
Annex B: Sectors in context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p22
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Social Care Sector
IntroductionThis document is one of a series commissioned by the FutureSkills Wales Research Forum. The overall project aims toextend and complement the work begun by the original FutureSkills Wales project, which forecast future generic skills needsacross Wales using forecasting and survey data. The currentproject adds studies of future vocational skills needs within keysectors in Wales. Each sector study is based on desk researchand qualitative interviews with practitioners and a small numberof employers, and aims to provide an overview of the sector,the skills issues, and current and potential actions to furtherstrengthen the sector.
Businesses and employees in each of the sectors studied haveachieved great successes; that is why these sectors havebecome important for Wales. Our focus on current skills issuesshould not obscure these achievements or the determination ofall concerned to meet current challenges.
Sector Profile• The social care workforce of 70,000 (full-time and part-time)
represents 4% of the total workforce in Wales, employing asimilar number to the business and finance sector.
• The social care sector is complex. It is made up of threesub-sectors, the public, private and voluntary, deliveringservices in a range of home, community and residentialsettings to a diverse range of clients.
• The balance of public to independent provision varies acrossservice areas and in localities. This mix is primarily driven bythe commissioning and service strategies of local authoritiesthat are developed within national policy frameworks.
• The main vocational skill areas include social work and careskills with over a quarter of employees in the sector workingas care assistants.
• The majority of services delivered are publicly funded, butthe independent sector has grown significantly in the last 20years and over half of the total workforce is estimated tonow work in the private sector.
• The majority of employment in social care is located in SouthEast Wales. Between 1990 and 2000 employment in thesector in North Wales grew by 30%.
• Trends across the sub-sectors cannot be predicted at thisstage as some are predicted to decline, others are expectedto grow, for example the delivery of intermediate care andrehabilitation services. However, overall the social care sectoris expected to grow, and at a faster rate than the Welsheconomy as a whole.
Skills Issues• A significant proportion of workers in the sector, especially in
residential services sub-sectors, have no formalqualifications.
• Employers report some difficulty in recruiting and attributethis to low levels of wages that are in turn reported as beingdue to low operating margins. Research is currentlyunderway assessing the barriers to entry into the sectorworkforce and relevance of provision to meet the needs ofemployers.
• Training is relatively well established in the sector butemployers report difficulties in the delivery of work-basedassessment, particularly in settings where services aredelivered in the user’s home or in a wider range ofcommunity settings. There is a need to ensure that a greaterproportion of the training that does take place leads to aqualification outcome.
• There is currently limited funding support available for theindependent sector to assist with embedding vocational
training, although there has been considerable activityseeking to disseminate good practice in the delivery andmanagement of work-based training.
• Vacancy rates in some occupations are reported at muchhigher levels than the national average and employersconsulted report concern with high rates of turnover. Theintroduction of new national standards for the sector isexpected to lead to closures amongst small independentcare home operators. This may represent a challenge to thesector in ensuring that experience staff are retained withinthe workforce and their skills and experience re-deployed inother settings.
Current Changes and Action on Skills• The sector is undergoing some fundamental changes. The
Better Wales strategy sees the social care sector as key tothe delivery of social inclusion objectives representing a shiftin policy focus from targeting areas of greatest need to socialinclusion.
• Across social care service areas, new policy is beingdeveloped to respond to this change and is driven by: – increased focus on empowerment of the user and
promoting independence where appropriate;– the need for flexibility to meet the needs of the users to
deliver services at home, in the community or in aresidential setting;
– partnership working to dovetail care services with primaryhealth care and sectors delivering social inclusion andregeneration activities.
• There is considerable focus on the skills and competence ofthe workforce through the introduction of the Care StandardsAct and establishment of the Care Council for Wales, whichwill incorporate the functions of the NTO, TOPSS Cymru,and be responsible for the registration of the social careworkforce.
• Key functions of the Care Council will include the regulationof the social care workforce including establishing thequalification attainment required for the registration of socialcare workers. The Care Council, in partnership withgovernment, will also develop a Skills, Qualifications andTraining Strategy for the sector by 2002.
• A considerable body of research, consultation anddevelopmental work has been undertaken and is planned byTOPSS Cymru to prepare for this transition. This includes:– the use and refinement of workforce information to predict
with employers the skills, training and qualification needsrequired by the sector;
– agreeing with employers the qualifications framework forthe sector including those required at entry to the socialcare workforce;
– agreeing with employers the career pathways for thesector;
– assisting employers develop Human Resource Strategiesthat will meet the requirements of their service strategies;
– progressing the Occupational Standards Strategy;– preparatory work for the development of the Skills,
Qualifications and Training (STQ) Strategy including thecreation of an Entry to the Social Care Work force Strategy.
• Given that there is considerable change underway, the exactimpact on skills needs in the sector will become clearer asthe new structures and strategies are developed;
• The following recommendations, therefore, focus on theactions required of relevant bodies in order to secure theresources and support that will be needed to ensure that thevision set out for the social care sector in the 21st century isachieved.
Executive Summary
Social Care Sector
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Themes & Recommendations matrixTheme Rec. Action Timescale Key PartnersNo: No:
1 1a A strategy should be adopted to increase understanding of the April 2001 TOPSS Cymru/importance, size, nature and complexity of the social care sector in CETW/NafWWales, including regional differences. This will assist in strategic planning for the appropriate post 16 funding to meet the sector’s skills, training and qualification needs
1b A strategy should be devised to inform CCETS understanding of the April 2001 TOPSS Cymru/sector on a local basis in order to deliver the appropriate provision WLGA/FE/CETW that will meet the sector’s skills, training and qualification needs as outlined in the Entry to the Workforce Strategy and STQ Strategy
2 2a Delivery of the STQ Strategy needs to be supported by ensuring on-going Awarding bodies/• the development of effective work based assessment and verification; TOPSS• the development of awards in full partnership with the NTO in Wales
2b Increased collaboration and work to ensure that the sector has on-going ACCAC/access to Awards, training providers and assessment centres of the Awarding bodies/appropriate quality and variety CETW/TOPSS
3 3a Employers and service providers across the sector need to ensure on-going Allthat their employees are appropriately skilled and qualified for the work that they undertake
3b Cyngor NTO Cymru Social Sector Group to support the work in the on-going Cyngor NTO sector by taking forward the Skills Strategy for Social Inclusion Cymru
4 Widen dialogue on skills and qualifications issues with independent on-going TOPSS Cymrusector employers and further promote joint working to address these
5 Raise profile of the caring services as a positive career option end 2002 Careers/EBLs/TOPSS Cymru
6 Undertake wider research on market trends in independent and April 2002 NafWvoluntary sector
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Social Care Sector
1. Introduction1.1 This document is one of a series commissioned by
the Future Skills Wales Research Forum. The overallproject aims to extend and complement the workbegun by the original Future Skills Wales project,which forecast future generic skills needs acrossWales using forecasting and survey data. Thecurrent project aims to add studies of futurevocational skills needs within key sectors in Wales.
1.2 Businesses and employees in each of the sectorsstudied have achieved great successes; that is whythese sectors have become important for Wales.Our focus on current skills issues should notobscure these achievements or the determination ofall concerned to meet current challenges.
1.3 Each of the individual sector reports iscomplemented by a report on management andinformation technology skills issues across thesectors studied. This reviews the situation in eachsector and draws out common themes andimplications. This report covers trends in the socialcare sector and the vocational and other skillsissues in Wales.
Method1.4 The first phase of the study proceeded mainly by
desk research and initial discussions withrepresentatives from the NTO for the sector inWales, TOPSS Cymru, and further consultationswith a small number of sector representatives andemployers. The consultations provided case studyexamples, and help to illustrate the analysis ofvocational skills, the actions being taken inresponse to these, and the potential for furtheraction or policy development. The reports aim toprovide an introduction to the sector, a ‘snapshot’of sector issues, and pointers to potential action.
Social Care Sector
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2. The Social Care Sector2.1 The Social Care sector, excluding health services,
employs an estimated 4% of the total workforce inWales and is similar in size to the workforceemployed in the business and finance sector.
2.2 In this section we give an overview of the range ofactivities that take place across the sector, which ismade up of a number of distinct sub-sectors andsettings in which care services are delivered. Thissection also reports on some of the key changesthat have taken place in the sector.
2.3 Finally, this section looks at the current drivers forchange. The Social Care sector is strongly driven bythe national strategic policy which in turn drivesfunding, regulation and commissioningarrangements, and in the care sector these arecurrently under-going fundamental change.
Definition of the SectorData Sources2.4 This report covers the social work and care sectors.
The classifications used to measure the activityvary, and currently there is no one source of datathat provides a satisfactorily comprehensiveaccount of the sector. This is due to the fact thatthe social care sector comprises three sub-sectorscovering the statutory, private and voluntary (not-for-profit) aspects of activity. There is good qualityinformation on the activities and workforce in thepublic sector as there is a systematic requirementfor local authorities to report this. But there is lessstructured data on activities in the other two sub-sectors and there are strengths and weaknesses inthe data sources and reporting on these areas.
2.5 The data used in this section come from a numberof sources, each of which provides some in-sightinto the profile of the social care sector. Using datafrom a range of sources has the disadvantage thatcoverage and classifications used by each varies,leading to some difficulties in drawing conclusionsabout the profile of the whole sector.
2.6 A recent workforce mapping exercise, undertakenby TOPSS Cymru1, the Training Organisations forPersonal Social Services in Wales, has broughttogether a wide range of information sources toestimate the size and structure of the workforce.This includes NAW STF returns, Social ServicesStatistics for Wales, LGMB Independent sectorworkforce survey, Independent Care OrganisationSector Challenge data, a WCVA survey of VoluntaryOrganisations and Labour Force Survey data. Thisresearch provides the most recent andcomprehensive analysis of the workforce. TheTOPSS research report has also highlighted theinconsistencies and gaps in the available data anddevelopment work is underway to further developsector workforce information.
Sector Activities2.7 The demand for social care services is driven
mainly by national policy and priorities and localservice strategies developed by local authorities.The statutory sector, located within local authoritySocial Services Departments (SSDs) across Wales,
undertakes regulatory activities, develops localservice strategies, and commissions services fromthe independent sector, in addition to the provisionof social care services.
2.8 Changes to regulatory and funding regimes(discussed below) have led to an overall increase inthe proportion of services delivered by theindependent sector. Nationally, the independentsector has a workforce that is now estimated to belarger than that in the statutory sector.
2.9 The actual balance, at the local level, of public andindependent sector provision differs across localauthority areas. The current balance is a function ofan individual authority’s own funding andpurchasing strategies developed within nationalpolicy frameworks. Whatever the actual level ofcontracted services, local authorities retain theresponsibility for commissioning publicly fundedcare and are accountable for it.
2.10 The Social Care sector includes a diverse range ofactivities. The table below (Table 2.1) shows theprincipal activities covered by the sector, showingthe range of settings in which services aredelivered.
2.11 Activities can be further divided into those offeredto a specific client group including the elderly,children, those with physical, sensory or learningdisabilities and those with mental health needs.
2.12 Table 2.2 gives an overview of the activitiesrecorded by Social Services Departments in 1997/8.Table 2.2 does not include the volume of activitythat is purchased privately, but shows the diversityof activity in the sector and the range of settings inwhich services within one service area aredelivered. For example, under the service areaheading ‘children looked after’ the vast majority ofchildren are cared for by foster carers, but youngpeople in this client group may also be cared for incommunity homes, supported in independentaccommodation, or may be in secure units.
2.13 In Wales, 20% of nursing care residents are fundedthrough private means, however, this aspect ofservices represents a small proportion of the sectoroverall. The vast majority of social care activities arefunded publicly. The key change that has takenplace in the past 20 years is the increase in theproportion of publicly funded social care activitythat is delivered by private and voluntary sectororganisations under contract to local authorities.
Table 2.1: Principal Activities
Administrative functionsRegulatory activities including inspectionCommissioning and client assessments Residential and nursing home servicesDay care services Domiciliary or home care servicesOther social care activities
1TOPSS Cymru Workforce Projects (2000): Mapping the sector, Matching Qualifications to Posts.
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Social Care Sector
Table 2.2 Social Care Sector Activities - by client groupExtract of Social Services Statistics for Wales 1999
Client Group Service Area Activity (1998)# Additional Information
Children Children looked after 3,400 children looked after of which 2,340 in foster care. 1,961 approved foster parents offer 3,121 foster placesother activities include adoption services and those accommodated under Section 20, care orders and remand/compulsory orders
Day Care Services for 39,841 full time and 612 local authority and 34,194 places in registered Children sessional places facilities and 5,035 out of school childcare places.
There are 17,484 registered childminders
Older People Assessment Outcomes 58,490 assessments 47,471 non-residential care packages. 2,577 placements in nursing homes. 1,165 placements in local authority residential homes. 2,390 placements in independent residential homes
Homes for 689 homes 4,549 residents in local authority residential homes. older people 12,886 residents 8,337 residents in independent nursing and
residential homes
Non residential 10,408 day care 683* residential and nursing respite care.Care Packages 29,024 home care 15,695* meals.
People with Assessment 15,411 Assessments 4,911 non-residential care packages. 66 placed in physical or Outcomes nursing homes. 65 placed in local authority sensory residential homes. 81 placed in independent disability residential homes. Non-residential care support
includes day care, home care, meals, aids and adaptations and respite care. Other activities include the issue of vehicle badges
Homes 22 homes 6 local authority and 16 independent homes
383 residents
People with Register of Persons 11,771 registered 9,277 with community living arrangements of whichLearning of which 8,892 aged 1,241 in own home, 7,664 living with family, 464 in Disabilities 16+ and 2,899 u16 health service accom, 430 in local authority
residential accom and 1,526 in independent residential accom.
Assessment 1,572 assessments 8 placed in nursing care. 112 placed in residentialoutcomes care. 1,385 non-residential care packages which
can include day care, home care and meals.
Homes 235 homes 72 local authority homes. 163 independent homes1,697 residents
People with Assessment 3,533 assessments 39 placed in nursing care. 161 placed in residential Mental Health outcomes care. 1,981 non-residential care packages which can
include day care, home care, meals and respite care.
Homes 72 homes 28 local authority homes. 48 independent homes
617 residents
General Local Authority 327 centres places per week: 31,920 for those with learning Services For Day Care disabilities, 5,985 for those with mental health Adults problems, 36,483 for elderly 3,801 for those with a
physical/sensory disability
Volume of Day and 11,5million hrs of home 18.9% provided by the independent sectorDomiciliary Care care, 3.7m sessions of day 5.7% provided by the independent sector
care, 3.0m meals 5.5% provided by the independent sector
Source: Social Services Statistics for Wales 1999 #assessment outcome data for 1997*incomplete data - no return from a small number of local authorities
Social Care Sector
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Employers2.14 The care sector is diverse in terms of the size and
nature of the three main sub-sectors: the SocialServices Departments, the private and voluntarysectors. The type of employer found in the privatesector varies considerably, from large UK-wide careorganisations to single site owner managedbusinesses. Similarly, in the voluntary or not-for-profit sector, organisations vary considerably in sizefrom UK-wide providers to small localorganisations. Consultees in the private andvoluntary sector noted that, in many respects, not-for-profit and private sector organisations,particularly those operating as contractors to thepublic sector, now have more similarities thandifferences, for example, they face similarmanagement, recruitment and skills issues.
Employment2.15 The TOPSS workforce research estimates a total
workforce of 70,000 in the social care sector, asshown in Table 2.3. In most care settings, there is asignificant proportion (up to 70%) of staff employedon a part time basis. Some staffing estimates aremade from the total hours contracted by SocialServices Departments for certain services, hencethe full time equivalent number of employees in thesector including all part-time staff cannot bemeasured at this time.
2.16 Table 2.3 indicates the relative sizes of the statutoryand independent sectors. Just over a third of theworkforce is estimated to be employed in thestatutory sector and under 10% in the voluntarysector, with just over half in the private sector.
2.17 In the statutory sector 14% of staff are employed in‘headquarters’ activities, over a third (37%) areemployed in the delivery of home care services, justover a quarter (26%) in the delivery of residentialservices, and 15% in day care. A further 8% areemployed as social workers.
2.18 Within the independent sector the private sectoremploys an estimated 37,730, of which just undertwo thirds (63%) work in residential and nursinghomes, 30% in childcare and 7% in (publiclyfunded) domiciliary care.
2.19 In the voluntary sector 41% are employed asmanagers and supervisors, and a third asadministrative and clerical staff, giving an indicationthat a significant amount of direct care is deliveredby the volunteer workforce which is not included inthe above estimates. Further data on thecomposition of the volunteer workforce in Wales willbe reported in the Voluntary Sector NTO’s SkillsForesight analysis.
2.20 Growth in the sector has been reflected inemployment trends. For example, researchundertaken by IDEA in 19992, indicated that thesector workforce increased by over 16% in theperiod 1994-1999. This compares to a figure of 5%increase in all employment for Wales as a wholeacross the same period.
2.21 Another key feature of the social care workforce isits age profile, with the sector employing a relativelyhigh proportion of older workers. The Labour ForceSurvey data in 1998/9 on the ‘social work industry’3
indicates that a quarter of all staff in the sector wereaged 50+ compared to 20% for the workforce inWales as a whole. However, the proportion ofyounger people in the social care workforce hasbeen rising. The period 1994/5 to 1998/9, saw thesector labour market grow by an estimated 9,000.During this period the number of those working inthe sector aged under 35 grew by an estimated11,000, with the number employed aged 35-49declining by 2,0004.
Occupations2.22 The occupations across the sub-sectors are listed
in Table 2.4 which shows a classification ofoccupations used in the statutory sector staffingreturns for social work and social care to theNational Assembly.
2.23 The occupations are reported across the settings inwhich care services are delivered, and by clientgroup. Work being undertaken by TOPSS Cymru in2000/01 will involve consulting with the sector torefine these definitions, but the table shows thewide range of occupational areas that are located inthe sector.Table 2.3: Estimated Number of Employees in
the Social Care Sector in WalesStatutory 26,430 37.5%Private Independent 37,730 53.6%Voluntary 6,257 8.9%Total 70,417 100%TOPSS Cymru Workforce Project: Mapping the Social CareSector. May 2000
2Workforce Audit of the Personal Social Services: Wales June 1999. Improvement and Development Agency for TOPSS (UK Partnership).3Standard Industry Clasification Codes 8531 and 8532. 4Labour Force Survey (1994/5, 1998/9).
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Social Care Sector
2.24 Recent forecasts by Business Strategies Limited(BSL) provide estimates of the number ofemployees by occupation in the social care sectorand the other eight sectors that are the focus of theFuture Skills Wales Sector studies project. Figure2.1 shows the BSL estimates. These highlight therelatively high proportion of professional andassociate professional employees in the sector and,as one might expect, a high proportion ofemployees in the ‘personal’ services occupationswhich include care assistants.
2.25 Figure 2.1 also suggests that the social care sectoris characterised as having a low proportion ofmanagers. However, data from other sourcesestimates that the voluntary sector has 41% of staffthat are managers and the local authority sector has14% of staff in these occupations. This discrepancyis likely to be due to differences in the classificationof some social care activities, notably in othersectors such as public administration.
Figure 2.1: Sector Occupational Profiles, 2000
Source: BSL
Employment by Region2.26 The BSL data also gives an estimate of the
distribution of employment in the care sector ineach Welsh Region (Table 2.5). Again some cautionis needed when using this data as, overall, the sizeof the workforce measured using the BSL data isconsiderably smaller that than that estimated by therecent TOPSS research, which uses a range of
Table 2.4: Occupations in Staffing Returns
Setting Social Care Occupations
Headquarters, Social Workers and Domiciliary StaffHeadquarters & Area Offices Senior Directing, Other Manager, Adviser/ Planner/ Researcher, Training Officer,
Inspector, Community Worker, Home Care Organiser, Occupational Therapist, OT Assistant, Mobility/ Rehabilitation Officer, Other Staff.
Services for Children Social Work Team Leader, Social Worker, Social Work Assistant, Home Carer/Family Aide/Domiciliary Carer.
Services for Adults Social Work Team Leader, Social Worker, Social Work Assistant, Home Carer/Family Aide/Domiciliary Carer.
Hospital/Clinic Settings Middle Manager, Social Work Team Leader, Social Worker, Social Work Assistant.
Residential Services StaffServices for the Elderly and Manager/Officer in Charge, Deputy/Assistant Officer in Charge, Care Officer/Mentally Infirm Assistant Care Officer, Social Worker, Other Staff.
Services for People Manager/Officer in Charge, Deputy/Assistant Officer in Charge, Care Officer/with Physical Disabilities Assistant Care Officer, Social Worker, Other Staff.
Services for People with Manager/Officer in Charge, Deputy/Assistant Officer in Charge, Care Officer/Mental Health Problems Assistant Care Officer, Social Worker, Other Staff.
Services for People with Manager/Officer in Charge, Deputy/Assistant Officer in Charge, Care Officer/Learning Disabilities Assistant Care Officer, Social Worker, Other Staff.Services for Children & Adolescents Manager/Officer in Charge, Deputy/Assistant Officer in Charge, Care Officer/
Assistant Care Officer, Social Worker, Teacher/Instructor, Other Staff.
Day Services StaffServices for the Elderly Manager/Officer in Charge, Deputy/Assistant Officer in Charge, Day Services and Mentally Infirm Officer/ Assistant, Social Worker, Other Staff.
Services for People with Manager/Officer in Charge, Deputy / Assistant Officer in Charge, Day Services Physical Disabilities Officer/Assistant, Social Worker, Other Staff.
Services for People with Manager/Officer in Charge, Deputy/Assistant Officer in Charge, Day Services Mental Health Problems Officer / Assistant, Social Worker, Other Staff.
Services for People with Manager/Officer in Charge, Deputy/Assistant Officer in Charge, Day Services Learning Disabilities Officer / Assistant, Social Worker, Other Staff.
Services for Children & Adolescents Manager/Officer in Charge, Deputy/Assistant Officer in Charge, Day Services Officer/Assistant, Social Worker, Other Staff.
Multipurpose Day Centres Manager/Officer in Charge, Deputy/Assistant Officer in Charge, Day ServicesOfficer/Assistant, Social Worker, Other Staff.
* TOPSS Cymru Workforce Project: Mapping the Social Care Sector. 2000
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Farms
Social Care
Tourism etc
Bus/Finance
Media/New Media
Automotive
Food Proc
Electronics
Aerospace
Managers Professions Asst Prof Clerical CraftPersonal Sales Operatives Other
Social Care Sector
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sources to estimate workforce numbers. The BSLdata does, however, give an indication of therelative size of the sector workforce by region, andindicates that almost half of sector employment islocated in South East Wales.
2.27 Employment in the care sector in North Wales isestimated to have increased by over 30% duringthe 1990s and grew at a relatively faster rate thanemployment in the rest of the sector. In contrast,employment in the care sector in mid-Walesremained fairly stable and only grew by anestimated 2% in the same period.
Changes in the Sector: 1980-1998 2.28 The sector faced a period of considerable change
in the period from 1980 to the mid 1990s, with anumber of factors leading to changes in the profileof the social care sector in this period; theseinclude:
• changes in community care practice to targetingthose in most need;
• the changing demographic profile;
• changes to the benefits system;
• the introduction of the NHS and Community CareAct in 1990;
• the introduction of the Direct Payments Act in1996;
• local government re-organisation;
• the Local Government Act introducing the BestValue regime.
2.29 These changes have had a number of implicationsfor the structure of the sector and the balance ofdemand and supply.
2.30 In certain areas, for example domiciliary care, thedynamics of the market are changing with theincrease of direct payments (of public funding) toindividuals shifting purchasing power to serviceusers.
2.31 The devolution of responsibilities for local servicesenabled each local authority to make anassessment of the demand for and supply ofservices and to develop service strategies in thelight of funding available. At the local level this hasled to differences in the balance between localauthority and independent provision. Thesestrategies are determined partly by the way inwhich an authority views, for example, the costs ofresidential provision in comparison to the costs of acommunity based alternative which might includedomiciliary care, housing support and attendanceallowance costs. Factors such as the lack of capitalin the public sector may also lead to a shift inprovision from the public to the independent sector.
2.32 Community care strategies have driven a shift in thefocus of the support given to more vulnerable
clients, many of whom are now more likely to liveand be supported in the community. This shift inemphasis, therefore, has impacted on the deliveryof services that enable delivery in the community,with a consequent impact on demand for andnature of residential care provision.
2.33 The increased delivery of support for people in theirhomes or in community settings, has also changedthe nature of care services. Models of servicedelivery have become more flexible and within aparticular service area clients may be supported inresidential, community or home care settings,depending upon their actual need, preferences andthe profile of local provision.
2.34 The case study below gives an illustration of howthese factors combined to influence the changingprofile of one service area, residential care for theelderly, in the period between 1980 and 1998.
Case Study: Changes in The Profile ofResidential Care for the Elderly1980-1998
Figure 2.2 (overleaf) shows that
• overall, the number of residents in homes for theelderly rose from 9,000 to over 12,800 between1980 and 1998;
• the proportion of residents aged 85+ rose from 41%to 64%;
• the proportion of residents in local authority homesfor the elderly fell from 80% of the total in 1980 to35% in 1998 and the total number of residentscared for by the independent sector (private andvoluntary) increased five fold.
The numbers resident in local authority homes for theelderly declined at a relatively steady rate over theperiod. In contrast, the rate of growth of residents inthe independent sector fluctuated. Between 1980 and1990 there was significant growth in the independentsector with the number of elderly residents increasingfrom 1,770 to over 4,000 between 1980 and 1985 andagain to over 7,000 by 1990. This was causedpredominantly by changes in the benefits system thatencouraged growth in this sector. The NHS andCommunity Care Act of 1990 halted this rate ofincrease and, during the 1990s the number of elderlyresidents in the independent sector has plateaued,growing steadily but at a much slower rate, rising to8,300 residents in 1998. Between 1980 and 1990 thenumber of number of independent homes for olderpeople increased five fold from 101 in to 503.However, between 1990 and 1998 the total number ofindependent homes for the elderly increased by afurther 29.
Prospects for the Future2.35 Based on past trends, employment in the care
sector workforce is expected to grow in the shortterm. The TOPSS UK Workforce audit in Walesestimated this to be between 2.5%-3% per annum.The Business Strategies Limited forecastscommissioned by the Future Skills Wales ResearchForum (BSL, August 2000) also forecast continuedgrowth in employment in the sector in the mediumterm, followed by a slight decline in employment
Table 2.5: Estimates of Employment in the CareSector by Region, 2000
North Wales 12,300 23.8%West Wales 10,050 20.8%Mid Wales 4,950 9.5%South East Wales 23,540 45.6%
Source: BSL
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000
Local Authority 1980
Independent 1980
Local Authority 1998
Independent 1998
Figure 2.2 Social Care - Elderly Residents by Age and Provider
65-74 75-84 85+
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Social Care Sector
toward the end of the forecast period (2010). NorthWales is expected to see stronger employmentgrowth than the other regions, continuing the trendseen throughout the 1990s. Overall, these forecastmovements in employment are fairly modest, withemployment in the sector across Wales seen aspeaking in 2004 at 5% up on the figure for 2000,then declining slightly again to just 2% up oncurrent levels by 2010. A separate report on theseforecasts is being prepared by BSL for the FutureSkills Wales Research Forum.
2.36 These forecasts are based on past trends andassumptions that are based on growth projectionsfor the economy as a whole. In addition to these‘top down’ quantitative forecasts, prospects for thefuture need to be assessed within a range ofscenarios for the future for the care sector.Scenarios suggested by consultees include:
• high: growth in demand for social, especiallyelderly, care services in both the statutory andprivate sectors, which will be largely met via theindependent sector;
• medium: increased focus on regulation andstandards will drive some independentorganisations out of the market, leading to aconsolidation of provision in a smaller number oflarger independent organisations;
• low: tight local authority budgets will limit thescope for increasing the volume of servicesbecause although demand will increase, eligibilitycriteria will be tightened, resulting in a low growthscenario for the social care sector.
2.37 The actual outturn will clearly be affected by thesignificant changes that are currently taking place inthe sector.
Current Drivers of Change2.38 The National Assembly’s broad agenda for change
is set out in the ‘Better Wales’ strategy in whichthe social care sector is seen as key to supportingthe achievement of social inclusion objectives at theheart of the national strategy.
2.39 This represents a fundamental shift in focus ofnational policy for the social care sector from amodel based on the targeting of service for those ingreatest need, to one focused on social inclusionand the empowerment of users.
2.40 The articulation of the role of the Social Care sectorin the achievement of the ‘Better Wales’ vision isset out in the ‘Building the Future’ White Paperfor Social Services, which sets out five keyprinciples for the modernisation of the social caresector. These are:
• promoting an inclusive society;
• supporting and promoting effective socialservices, providing Best Value on a fair andconsistent basis;
• providing support for those who need it, in a safeenvironment that promotes dignity;
• encouraging and supporting those who can doso to build their independence;
• promoting the development of a high qualityworkforce.
2.41 Hence, developing the workforce is givenprominence in this vision of the future of the socialcare sector.
2.42 The impact of the shift outlined in the Better Walesstrategy and White Paper can be seen in thestrategic documents affecting the wide range ofsocial care service areas, notably:
• the assembly’s strategy for children, emphasisingpartnership between social services, educationand health, and promoting specific initiativessuch as ‘Children First’;
• the draft mental health strategy (June 2000);
• the national carers strategy;
• the all Wales learning disability strategy;
• the 1999 Health Act and guidance on ‘NewFlexibilities’ giving increased focus to jointworking between the social care sector and theprimary health sector;
• the Assembly Secretary’s speech ‘Partnership forProgress: Community Care in the 21st Century’,setting the vision for more effective joint workingbetween health, social services and othersincluding education and housing.
2.43 Many of the implications for change that affect theworkforce are brought together within the CareStandards Act which seeks to provide a frameworkto enable the development of the social careworkforce to meet the demands of this newstrategic setting. This agenda sets out an
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expectation that these changes will happen quickly.The new legislation outlines measures to increaseregulation and require registration of the workforce,and will set standards for qualification attainmentby the workforce. The Act establishes, by 2002:
• a Care Council for Wales to regulate and raisestandards in the social care workforce;
• the National Assembly as the single regulator ofsocial care and non-NHS health care in Wales;
• a Children’s Commissioner for Wales.
2.44 The core tasks of the Care Council will be toregulate the workforce and ensure that workersreceive the appropriate training and attain the rightqualifications needed for their role. These newpowers will be achieved through enforceable Codesof Conduct and Practice Standards that will applyto all social care staff, a Code of Practice that willapply to all employers, and the registration ofindividuals. The register aims to improve quality andraise public confidence in the sector, and the CareCouncil will have the power to set the entry levelrequirements for the register and exclude orsuspend from it.
2.45 A number of mechanisms have been established tohelp ensure that the development needs of theworkforce are known and addressed. Section 4,Action on Skills, looks at these in more detail. Thefollowing section outlines key skills issues currentlyfaced in the social care sector.
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Social Care Sector
3. Sector Skills IssuesMain Vocational Skills in the Sector3.1 There is a broad range of skills required by those
working in this diverse and complex sector. Inbroad terms the main vocational skills in the sectorare the commissioning skills of headquarters staff,care needs assessment skills, management skills ofthose delivering in the public and independentsectors, and the specific social work and socialcare skills of staff working across the range ofservice areas.
3.2 The table below (Table 3.1) shows the distributionof employment across the key occupations in thesector. It must be noted that the figure for totalemployment does not match workforce estimatesshown above as this data is taken from LabourForce Survey data which has a narrower definitionof the workforce than that used in the recent, andmore comprehensive, workforce mapping studyundertaken by TOPSS. The data in Table 3.1 does,however, help to highlight the extent to which alarge proportion of employees in the sector areworking as care assistants and in the ‘other’ serviceoccupations in the sector.
Vocational Skills SupplyQualifications3.3 UK-wide, workforce lifelong learning qualifications
targets have been set at 60% of the workforce withNVQ level 3 or equivalent and 30% with NVQ level4 or equivalent. The table (Table 3.2) indicates thatthe current level of qualifications across the socialcare workforce is considerably below the Nationaltarget levels, particularly in the residential socialcare sectors, where an estimated one in five haveno formal qualifications.
3.4 As part of the development work preparing for theCare Council for Wales, work led by TOPSS isconsulting widely with the sector to specify thematching of qualifications to posts across the
sector. Research in this area already undertaken byTOPSS, suggest that up to two thirds of employeesin the statutory sector are working in posts at acompetence level equivalent to NVQ level 2. Thestructure of the care sector workforce suggests theneed to focus on raising attainment of the largenumber of employees working in job roles requiringcompetency equivalent to NVQ Level 2.
3.5 Initial research undertaken has also indicated that ahigh proportion of the workforce do not havequalifications relevant to their post and that many ofthose with relevant qualifications have awardsaccredited by a wide range of awarding bodies,making any comparison between awards morecomplex and making it harder for employers tounderstand the relevance of an award to a specificjob-role5. Further development work, in consultationwith the sector, is underway to specify thequalifications required for posts in the sector.
Entry to the Labour Market3.6 There has been a significant increase in the number
of young people working in the sector. However thesocial care workforce still has a relatively older ageprofile, and the employers consulted in this studyindicated that they face some difficulties inrecruiting staff and attracting new entrants to theworkforce. However, currently there is limitedstructured data available to give a clear assessmentof the routes employees take into the sector andthe destinations of those taking social carequalifications.
3.7 Entry to the workforce is a key topic currently underinvestigation by TOPSS Cymru which is developingthe Entry to the Social Care Workforce Strategy byFebruary 2001 as part of the preparation work forthe Care Council. The Entry to the Workforcestrategy will agree, in consultation with the sector,the skills and attainment requirements needed atthe points of entry into the sector, and careers andqualification pathways from the point of entryincluding the place of Modern Apprenticeships andNational Traineeship frameworks in Health andSocial Care. This work will also examine the fitnessfor purpose of FE provision to meet employer needsin this area. The Entry to the Workforce Strategy willform part of the overall Skills Training andQualification Strategy for the sector that TOPSSCymru is developing in partnership withgovernment.
3.8 Key points to note about entry to the workforce areas follows:
• a significant proportion of FE students (11% offull and part time registrations) study Health and
Table 3.1: Occupations in the ‘social workindustry’ in Wales 1998/9
Number %Social Worker 2,000 3.3Welfare/Youth/ 5,000 7.8Community WorkerLG clerical 1000 1.2Care assistant 26,000 39.8‘Other’ childcare 3,000 4.4cleaners, helps 4,000 6.1others 24,000 37.4
TOPSS UK June 1999
Table 3.2: Highest Qualification Held, Wales Labour Force Survey Winter 1999-2000
NVQ Level or Equivalent. % of the workforceBase Level 5 Level 4 Level 3 Level 2 Level 1 No Quals %
All Sectors 1,211,785 4.6 18.7 9.5 29.9 23.2 12.5 100
Social work with 20,509 2.0 11.9 4.6 20.5 35.8 21.2 100accommodation
Social work without 37,953 11.5 19.5 7.4 24.1 31.0 6.5 100Accommodation
Labour Force Survey 2000.
5TOPSS Cymru, ‘Matching Qualifications to Posts in the Social care Sector in Wales’. May 2000.
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Social Care courses. A total of 40,600 students’qualification aims were in care subjects in1997/8;
• these courses, however, have a relatively highrate of drop out. Qualitative evidence alsosuggests that some younger staff undertakingtraining in care in the independent sector willthen use this experience as a route into nursingrather than social care professions;
• around 300 students per year enter Diploma inSocial Work courses which are available via full,part time, and distance learning. Accreditation ofprior learning has also been developed tosupport access to DipSW provision. The WhitePaper, Building for the Future, noted the need toensure that barriers to access to the programmecontinue to be addressed.
Workforce Training Infrastructure3.9 It is recognised that there is a considerable amount
of training activity in the sector and although NVQsare relatively well established in the sector, there isalso a need to ensure that a greater proportion oftraining activity is focused towards outcomes thatinclude qualification attainment. Sector research in19966 highlighted that difficulties faced inimplementing NVQs are mainly found to be due toproblems with delivering work based assessment.
3.10 The employer case study overleaf highlights anumber of the issues faced by organisations in thesector seeking to develop work-based training andassessment.
Employer Case Study – Looking to embedtraining and NVQs
This voluntary organisation operates UK wide with 800staff, many of whom work part time or on a sessionalbasis. Overall, the organisation delivers 80 projects,and across Wales delivers services for local authoritiesproviding homes for adolescents and respite care. Ascorporate and individual funding for the voluntarysector has declined, the organisation has generated ahigher proportion of its revenue from contracts withthe statutory sector and is now increasingly operatingon a commercial basis.
The key challenge for skills development is developingeffective ways of delivering training and support tothose ‘in the front line’ when time, resources and othercommitments are pressing. In addition to the focus onqualification attainment as part of the requirements ofthe new legislation, there is also demand for trainingand support from staff to help them deal with difficultbehaviour and to work in a wider range of settings inwhich services are now being delivered. Furthermore,management skills need to be developed as careservices are increasingly based on a cocktail offunding which needs to be closely managed to ensureaccountability and that outcome targets are achieved.
Skills development needs to be largely work-basedand this has implications for how services themselvesare developed and managed. The logistics andmanagement of work based assessment are complexand project managers need to build in time andresource to do this. The organisation has beenworking to develop job and project specifications toinclude responsibilities for the supervision andassessment and support for staff working towardsNVQs.
There is limited scope to take staff away from ‘thefront line’ and there needs to be greater flexibility builtinto training and assessment of qualifications. Theorganisation has developed better links with partnersto find practical solutions to tie in training anddevelopment activities within organisational structures.This includes undertaking joint training with SocialServices and housing association staff, sharingresources and using secondments which also help todevelop cross sector relationships.
The development of joint solutions to skillsdevelopment has been ad-hoc, building on successfullocal partnerships. There has been a mixed responsefrom the TEC network for requests to support training,indicating the need for a more strategic level responsenationally to underpin the infrastructure developmentthat will be needed to achieve attainment targets setfor the sector.
Funding Training3.11 Funding for training in the care sector is available to
the public sector via the Welsh Assembly’s TrainingSupport Programme (TSP). The current guidance forthe TSP emphasises the focus on attainment oftraining outcomes, and childcare is identified as acurrent priority in the criteria for TSP funding.
6South Glamorgan TEC. Astudy of the Health and Social care Sector in South Glamorgan. 1996
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Social Care Sector
3.12 Although the TSP guidance recommends that localauthorities work in partnership with the Independentsector in developing training solutions, feedbackfrom employers suggest that there has been somejoint working developed with the voluntary sector,but there is less evidence of developing jointtraining solutions with the private sector.
3.13 Although there is a relatively strong culture oftraining and development within the sector, the tightmargins on which the sector operates limitsemployers’ capacity to fund training and supportstaff development through supervision andassessment. Hence, internal structures for trainingin the independent sector are reported as relativelyweak.
3.14 Employers also raise concern that, given low wagesin the sector and the increasing demands made ofstaff, the motivation for some individuals in low paidoccupations to train is relatively low, as there islimited scope for training and attainment to berewarded. Other employers expressed concern thatthe factor of low wages coupled with increasedrequirements for qualification attainment willcombine to have an adverse affect on retention inthe sector workforce, where in lower skilled jobs,staff may opt to leave the sector altogether to workin sectors that pay similar rates and offer a relativelyeasy working environment.
3.15 There has been limited support available for sectortraining initiatives via the TEC network. Thecomposition of the workforce means that many ofthose seeking to develop skills at NVQ level 3 orequivalent are aged over 25. The age restriction infunding Modern Apprenticeships has meant that thesector has had less access to funding for trainingwhen compared to other sectors where newentrants aged under 25 are working in ‘level 3’ jobs.
Other Labour market issues3.16 Employers report difficulties related to fee rates and
staffing problems. Recent research7 has indicatedthat the fees paid by local authorities may not coverthe marginal costs of provision. Independent sectoremployers cite low market prices as the key reasonfor relatively low levels of wages across the sector,an issue that in turn contributes to recruitment andretention problems. For example, vacancy rateswere reported in the 1998 Workforce Study asbeing 25% for part-time community workers and13% full-time day service officers/assistants forchildren, although the overall vacancy rate for theWelsh SSDs was 4% compared to 7% for England.
3.17 Occupancy rates in the independent residentialsector across the UK currently average 86%, afigure which facilitates the management of flows inand out of care. However, qualitative feedback froma small number of employers in the independentsub-sector has suggested that the growth in themarket for residential care for the elderly has led toa current position of oversupply of elderly care inthe private sector market , notably in North Wales.
3.18 If oversupply is present, it cannot be sustained in acompetitive industry for long. Private sector
employers indicated that the downward pressure onprices paid by public sector purchasers, coupledwith increasing costs associated with theintroduction of the minimum wage and the costs ofraising standards will lead to rationalisation in themarket with smaller providers being particularlyaffected.
3.19 Further analysis is required to assess the extent towhich this is an issue facing this sector acrossWales, and whether there is an over-supply ofplaces in other sub-sectors that may threaten theviability of some operators. Of key concern inrelation to the skills issues facing the social caresector is the need to understand any potentialimpact of closures on those working in thesebusinesses. In particular, there is a need to assesswhether they will return to work for other employersin the sector or will need help to do so throughretraining or other support to re-deploy their skills.
Future Skills Demand 3.20 The impact of the changes taking place in care
policy coupled with demographic changes andchanges in the nature of services implies increaseddemand for social care workers and changes in theskills needed by workers across the sector. Theprecise nature of this is not known, given that therequirements for the sector have not yet been set,and these will be informed by strategy which iscurrently being developed. However, a number ofkey points can be raised at this stage:
• the increased focus on the empowerment andrehabilitation of clients requires furtherdevelopment of the skills to understand andrespond to service users’ needs;
• the increasing focus on working in partnership todeliver more integrated support packagesrequires workers to understand more about thecontext in which partner organisations areworking and to work flexibly, possibly in a rangeof settings and locations;
• the increasing complexity of service delivery putsmore emphasis on the need for goodmanagement skills across the sectors. A post-qualifying framework is in place for those holdingsocial work qualifications and work is currentlyunderway to develop national occupationalstandards for Registered Managers that willinclude the care and management functions ofthese roles;
• many social work carers in day, domiciliary andresidential care settings do not have thecompetencies required to meet the changingneeds of the sector;
• occupational standards have been developed forthese functions and guidance issued to serviceproviders. The key challenge remains in ensuringthat human resource strategies are developedalongside the service development taking placewithin the new policy framework, and thatoccupational standards are developed as thebasis for these strategies;
• human resource strategies will need to bedeveloped to reflect the changes taking place inthe delivery of services in a more complex rangeof settings and ensure that workers at all levels
7Recent research from Laing and Buisson and the Continuing Care Conference indicate that public sector fee rates are ‘£40-50 per weekless than average rate of return.’
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have the appropriate knowledge, skills andcompetencies to respond to changes in theirroles;
• the sector faces some recruitment and retentiondifficulties due partly to low wages but alsoreflecting the increasing requirements on workersin the sector to work un-social hours and supportclients in a wider range of care settings. Toencourage participation in the new agenda forthe social work sector, there needs to bemechanisms for improving the status and rewardfor those working in it;
• to achieve targets for workforce attainment,work-based qualifications need to be furtherembedded. Good practice in this area has beendisseminated in the sector and further support isrequired to help ensure cost-effective approachescan be developed and embedded across thesector and that provision meets the sector’sneeds.
3.21 In addition:
• Welsh language skills need to be furtherembedded in the workforce to ensure equality ofopportunity in the delivery of social care services;
• there is also a need to develop care and themanagement of services via the use of newtechnologies, however, IT infrastructure and skillsare at considerably lower in the social care sectorthan levels in other personal service sectors.
3.22 The employer case study below provides anillustration of some of the points made in thissection relating particularly to the management ofstaff and the implications for employers of the CareStandards Act on training and assessment.
Case Study: Pen-y-Bryn Group, Swansea.Independent Care HomeEmployer
This employer in West Wales with over 200 staff is aprivate provider of residential care services to theelderly, those with mental health support needs andthe severely disabled.
Through Care in the Community legislation, thedistinction between health and social care for clientshas become blurred, and within residential settingsboth types of services are delivered. The keyimplication for care staff is that, where previously carestaff had been relatively unskilled, they now need tohave higher level skills in order meet the morecomplex support needs of their clients or at the veryleast be aware of how to integrate their care with thesupport given by others.
The increase in the number of care staff required tomeet the health needs of clients within residential andnursing settings leads to the need formanagers/owners in the independent sector toimprove their management skills. For example, a largenumber of organisations work on relatively tightmargins, and managing the most efficient mix inutilisation of nursing and care staff is critical to ensureviability. This will become more pertinent if newguidelines require higher proportions of qualified staff.
The training culture within the group is well establishedwith work-based assessors located across the rangeof residential care settings. However, TEC funding tofurther embed NVQ training has not been available tothe sector. Although new entrants have access tofunding via apprenticeship programmes, the bulk ofthe workforce (which is over 25) is in need of NVQtraining at levels 1- 3 and is not eligible for mainstreamfunding. TECs have not seen the care sector as apriority when supporting workforce developmentthrough other funding streams.
The implementation of the Care Standards Act willhelp identify a wider range of skills issues in terms ofthe level and ratio of skills and qualifications neededacross the social care workforce. It is less clear how,in Wales, structures and mechanisms (possiblythrough the CETW or CCET) will develop to helpensure that independent and public sectors canrespond to the skills and qualifications issues that willbe identified. Closer working needs to be developedbetween headquarters and the independentcontractors to ensure that skills and qualificationsissues are tackled effectively. There is still a culture of‘them and us’ across all three major sub-sectors andthis needs to be overcome. A critical issue that willneed to be tackled by all sectors is increasing thenumber and calibre of young people coming into thesector.
“Joint initiatives need to be developed to raiseawareness of the sector and the status of caringneeds to be raised and rewarded through recognitionand accreditation”.
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Social Care Sector
4. Action on Skills4.1 Given the current focus on the skills, qualifications
and regulation of the workforce, a considerableamount of development work is underway to seekto meet the needs of the sector. In preparation forthe Care Council for Wales in 2002, work on skills inthe sector, led by TOPSS Cymru, includes:
• developing workforce information to predictemployers’ skills, training and qualificationsneeds by developing a more comprehensiveapproach to data collection and analysis of thewhole sector. The systems of registration ofindividuals will itself help generate better data onthe sector workforce;
• developing, with social care employers andemployment interests, the Entry to the WorkforceStrategy, setting out the qualifications frameworkincluding those required on entry and careerpathways;
• assisting employers to develop human resourcestrategies to meet the needs of their servicestrategies;
• progressing the occupational standards strategy;
• developing the Skills, Qualifications and TrainingStrategy in partnership with government.
4.2 In preparing for the transition of the NTO’sresponsibilities to the Care Council for Wales,TOPSS has also been developing representativestructures to engage employers and employmentinterests across the sector in dialogues and workinggroups to feed into these activities and the nationaltraining strategy.
4.3 In addition, there has been a range of disseminationactivities to develop good practice on skills issuesincluding work with awarding bodies, employerguides and discussion on opportunities presentedby the University for Industry.
4.4 At the regional level there has been less structureddialogue between the sector and the TEC network.Some sector fora have been established with TECsbut the extent to which these have succeeded hasvaried. Employers report that this has partly beendetermined by the way in which TECs view the caresector, which employers characterise as ‘patchy’and ‘misconceived’ with a lack of understanding ofthe size and structure of the sector, the relationshipbetween the public and independent sectors, andthe skills issues faced.
4.5 In the transition from the TECs to the CETW, sectoremployers identify both concerns and the possibilityof opportunities to strengthen local sector networksand dialogues with funding bodies on skills andtraining issues.
4.6 Representatives of employers in the independentsector suggest that there is still a relatively low levelof understanding about the implications of the newrequirements for human resources and stafftraining. Feedback from employers in theindependent sector has indicated that partnershipworking with SSDs has improved in recent years.However, it indicates that there is scope for furtherjoint work, particularly to share information andanalysis of data that can inform planning, to help
enable employers to be better prepared for changeand to respond to the need to be increasinglyflexible in their delivery.
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5. Conclusions 5.1 The aim of this study is to provide an overview of
the social care sector and current skills issues. Thereview of the care sector in Wales highlights thatthe sector is complex and fragmented, offeringservices to a diverse range of clients in variedsettings.
5.2 The majority of services delivered in the social caresector are purchased through public funding,however, the private sector is now a major providerof publicly funded social care services. Privatelyfunded social care represents a small amount oftotal activity in the sector, and there is limited dataon trends in the private sector market andworkforce in Wales.
5.3 Change in the sector is predominantly driven bychange in public policy. The sector is seen as coreto achieving social inclusion objectives and, in thelight of new national policy, there are a number offundamental changes taking place in the sector: thefocus of care is increasingly on empowerment ofthe user and promoting independence whereappropriate, care services are being delivered in awider range of locations and partnership working isdeveloping to dovetail care services with those inother sectors.
5.4 The sector as a whole is forecast to grow and therewill be an increased demand for staff to meet newservice needs. As yet, there is no clear indication ofhow new legislation and policy will impact on thegrowth patterns of the different service areas andsub-sectors, where exactly the workforce will belocated across the different service areas, and whatthe priorities will be for skills development.
5.5 New legislation establishes the Care Council forWales which will oversee the registration of thesocial care workforce. Structures are beingdeveloped to address the new agenda, includingthe development of the Skills, Training andQualification strategy for the sector by TOPSS andgovernment in partnership, that will identify thepriorities for sector skills development.
5.6 The study highlights a number of current skillsissues. An estimated third of the workforce are inposts requiring competencies equivalent to NVQlevel 2. However, a significant proportion of workersin these jobs do not hold formal qualifications.
5.7 There are some reported difficulties in attractingnew entrants to the workforce and concerns aboutretaining care workers in low paid occupations.There is concern that the low pay and status ofcarers coupled with the new registration andattainment requirements may have a negativeeffect, driving experienced workers out of thesector labour market.
5.8 In developing new structures in the sector, therehas been an increase in the involvement andparticipation of sector employers through, forexample, the TOPSS Cymru committee and otherworking groups and networks. However, theemployers from the independent sector consultedfor this study indicate that there is still a need tocontinue to engage employers in the independent
sector in the current dialogues, and to raise theirawareness of the implications of current changes.
5.9 There is considerable training activity in the sectorbut mechanisms for the public funding of vocationaltraining do not extend support across the wholesector. In addition, employers report difficulties inimplementing work based assessment, particularlywhere staff are working on a shift, sessional ormulti-site basis.
5.10 There is considerable work underway to establishthe detail of new strategy and frameworks. Toensure that skills, training and qualificationsobjectives achieved, however, there is a need foron-going analysis of the support and resources thatwill be needed by the sector from government andother partners.
5.11 The changes taking place in the sector present aset of considerable challenges:
• the need to ensure that the qualifications andtraining provision are developed to reflect thechanges taking place;
• the need to continue to develop ways ofengaging the sector, particularly the large numberof private sector employers, in the on-goingdebates on skills needs and workforce planning;
• the need to communicate the priorities identifiedby current research and strategy development toemployers across the whole sector and other keypartners such as FE, HE, Careers Services,ACCAC and awarding bodies;
• workforce information is being developed to helpensure that better quality data can informplanning. From the review of the sector, there aretwo other areas of analysis that would helpinform future work:
– more powerful predictive tools can help assessthe impact of new legislation on employers andthe sector workforce, notably where thedemand for staff and increased skills levels willbe, and any potential impact on the retention ofexperienced workers;
– a better understanding of the relationshipbetween trends in the publicly and privatelyfunded sector care markets.
5.12 Given that the sector is in such as period ofchange, it is hard to predict where specific skillsneeds will occur and therefore to make concreterecommendations for action on skills.
5.13 Our recommendations, set out in Table 5.1 below,therefore focus on the need for making sectorpartners, particularly those not directly involved inimplementing these changes, aware of the changestaking place and the work underway. In addition,there is a need to focus on how the objectives ofthe strategies currently under development will beresourced and what support will be needed frompartners and government to achieve this.
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Social Care Sector
Themes & Recommendations matrixTheme Rec. Action Timescale Key PartnersNo: No:
1 1a A strategy should be adopted to increase understanding of the April 2001 TOPSS Cymru/importance, size, nature and complexity of the social care sector in CETW/NafWWales, including regional differences. This will assist in strategic planning for the appropriate post 16 funding to meet the sector’s skills, training and qualification needs
1b A strategy should be devised to inform CCETS understanding of the April 2001 TOPSS Cymru/sector on a local basis in order to deliver the appropriate provision WLGA/FE/CETW that will meet the sector’s skills, training and qualification needs as outlined in the Entry to the Workforce Strategy and STQ Strategy
2 2a Delivery of the STQ Strategy needs to be supported by ensuring on-going Awarding bodies/• the development of effective work based assessment and verification; TOPSS• the development of awards in full partnership with the NTO in Wales
2b Increased collaboration and work to ensure that the sector has on-going ACCAC/access to Awards, training providers and assessment centres of the Awarding bodies/appropriate quality and variety CETW/TOPSS
3 3a Employers and service providers across the sector need to ensure on-going Allthat their employees are appropriately skilled and qualified for the work that they undertake
3b Cyngor NTO Cymru Social Sector Group to support the work in the on-going Cyngor NTO sector by taking forward the Skills Strategy for Social Inclusion Cymru
4 Widen dialogue on skills and qualifications issues with independent on-going TOPSS Cymrusector employers and further promote joint working to address these
5 Raise profile of the caring services as a positive career option end 2002 Careers/EBLs/TOPSS Cymru
6 Undertake wider research on market trends in independent and April 2002 NafWvoluntary sector
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Annex A: ReferencesBSL 2000: ‘Key Sector Analysis’ August 2000, draft for the Future Skills Wales Forum.
Care Standards Bill.June 2000.
‘Caring for the Economy - Is Childcare the Key toClosing the GDP Gap?’ Nick Miller and Angie Ash. Miller Research for WDA 1999.
Labour Force Survey.Winter 1999-2000, DfEE.
‘Lost in Care: A Report of the Tribunal of Enquiry intothe Abuse of Children in Care in the Former CountyCouncil Areas of Gwynedd and Clwyd since 1974’,2000.
‘Modernising the Social Care Workforce’.Consultation. TOPSS England October 1999.
National Assembly for Wales Circular 09/00.Training Support Programme for Personal and SocialServices 2000-2001.
‘National Requirements for Residential NursingHomes for Older People’.Centre of Policy for Ageing. Jan 1999.
NFER. ‘Determining Good Practice in theimplementation of MAs and NTrs in the Care Sector in Wales’. April 2000.
‘A Study of the Health and Social Care Sector inSouth Glamorgan’. South Glamorgan TEC 1996.
‘Social Services: Building for the future. A WhitePaper for Wales’. March 1999.Social Service Statistics for Wales 1999.
The Coming of Age: improving care services for older people.Audit Commission 1997
TOPSS Cymru Steering Committee Reports 99/06, 00/12, 00/13.
TOPSS Cymru Workforce Projects:‘Mapping the Social Care Sector’ and ‘Mapping Qualifications to Posts in the Social Care Sector in Wales’. Miller Research, May 2000.
‘Voluntary Organisations in Wales’: Wales Council for Voluntary Action, 1997.
With Respect to Old Age: A Report by The RoyalCommission on Long Term Care. March 1999.
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Annex B: Sectors in Context
A Brief Overview Of The Relative Size AndImportance Of Welsh Sectors
This paper presents an overview of the sectors selectedfor study within the Future Skills Wales Sectoral Skillsproject. It aims to give the relative scale of the sectorsinvolved and some idea of their relative importance inWales.
The data on employment used in this section is takenfrom the latest estimates from Business StrategiesLimited (August 2000). Data on business units are takenfrom NOMIS. Some of the values given (for example forthe number of businesses within Wales, or the size of theworkforce, for a given sector) will not agree withestimates or calculations from other sources. This is dueto differences in the detailed definitions of sectors, or inmethods of estimation. However by using one source inthis discussion, consistency in measurement orestimation is established, and better comparability isensured. This is appropriate since here we are concernedwith the relative sizes of sectors and their workforces, asmuch as with absolute numbers.
Sector Size: Workforce NumbersFigure B.1 shows the employment figures for each of thesectors (employees and self employed) as a percentageof the total for Wales. By this measure Tourism, Leisureand Hospitality is the largest of the selected sectors,followed by Business and Financial Services, Social Care,and Agriculture and Farm Enterprises.
Together, the nine sectors selected for study in thisproject provide work (either as employees or in selfemployment) for around 26% of people working in Wales.This indicates the scope and potential importance of theexercise for the understanding of skills issues in Walesand the formulation of policy responses. (The rest ofemployment in Wales is accounted for by a large publicsector, including government, education and publicsector healthcare, and by the primary, construction,transport and distribution sectors, including retail).
Figure B.1: Employment as a percentage ofWelsh Employment: by Sector
Source: BSL FSW Sector Forecast
Employment Location QuotientsFigure B.2 provides a different view of the sectors, interms of their importance within Wales relative to the UKas a whole. It does this by comparing the employmentlocation quotients for the sectors. Employment locationquotients are used to express the degree to whichemployment in a given sector is located in a selectedregion. To calculate a location quotient, an averagepercentage is first calculated for all employment in theregion. Using the BSL estimates, for example, one findsthat 4.3% of all employment in the UK is located inWales.
Figure B.2: Employment Location Quotients forWales: by Sector
Source: BSL FSW Sector Forecast
Therefore, if employment in a given sector is distributedevenly over all regions of the UK, one would expect 4.3%of its employment to be in Wales. The sector’s Welshemployment percentage, at 4.3%, will be equivalent tothe average employment percentage for Wales.
To calculate the employment location quotient, thesector’s percentage is expressed as a ratio of the Welshaverage percentage. For example if a sector has 5.2% ofUK employment, the employment location quotient willbe the ratio of 5.2 to 4.3, or 1.2. Quotients of more than1 therefore indicate over-representation of employment inthe Welsh sector relative to the UK as a whole. Quotientsof around 1 indicate that employment in the sector inWales is much as one would expect given the overalldistribution of employment across the UK; and quotientsbelow 1 indicates that the sector in Wales is relativelyunder-represented in terms of employment.
Figure B.2 shows that the strongest Welsh sectors, inthese terms, are Agriculture, plus three of themanufacturing subsectors - Automotive, Aerospace andElectronics Manufacturing. UK employment is relativelyconcentrated in Wales for these sectors, despite the factthat some of them are small in relation to Welshemployment as a whole (Figure B.1). The Social Caresector also shows employment strength, while FoodProcessing and Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality areapproximately in line with the Welsh share of UKemployment.
Media and New Media, and the Business and FinancialServices sector, are both under-represented in Wales inemployment terms, with employment location quotientswell below 1.
0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0
Aerospace
Automotive
Electronics
Food Processing
Agriculture
Tourism
Social Care
Media
Bus. & Fin. Services
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Aerospace
Automotive
Electronics
Food Processing
Agriculture
Tourism
Social Care
Media
Bus. & Fin. Services
Social Care Sector
23
Sector Size: Number of BusinessesAn alternative method of comparing sectors is by thenumber of business units in each sector. This can be lessstraightforward than the employment location quotientmethod used above. Here we are using data on businessunits in Wales and for Great Britain as a whole, providedin NOMIS. The main difficulty is the definition of abusiness unit within the published figures. This does notmake a distinction between separate businesses, andlocations representing branches or sites within onebusiness. It also omits small ‘one-person’ business siteswithout formal employees.
This means, in particular, that these figures are apt to bemisleading as applied to the agricultural sector, sincethey represent agricultural businesses with employees,rather than all farms. They therefore greatly under-represent the number of agricultural enterprises in Wales.Although the business unit figures for agriculture havebeen included in the following analysis, they are thereforenot a reliable guide to agricultural sites in Wales.
Figure B.3 shows the sectors studied in terms of thenumber of business units in Wales. It shows that, by thismeasure, the Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality sector is bysome way the largest. According to the NOMIS figures,this sector contains 12.4% of all Welsh business units, -around 1 in every 8.
A further 6.6% of Welsh business units are in theBusiness and Finance sector, and 3.2% in Social Care.The next largest sector, Media and New Media, includesa large number of businesses classified under ‘Othercomputer related services’. Many of these may be ‘NewMedia’ businesses within our study definition. Others,however, may be providing services which are notrelevant within this definition. As explained above, thefigures for agriculture do not represent the farming sectoraccurately.
In total the sectors covered by the study account for over25% of business units located in Wales.
Figure B.3: Number of Business Units - SelectedSectors
Source: NOMIS
Site Location Quotients of Welsh SectorsFigure B.4 shows the site location quotients calculatedfor the sectors covered by this study. These arecalculated as for the employment location quotients usedearlier, but using business unit figures instead ofemployment numbers. Four of the sectors have quotientsgreater than 1. In other words, these sectors are ‘over-represented’ in Wales relative to what one might expecttaking Great Britain as a whole. These quotientsrepresent a degree of concentration of business units inthese sectors within Wales. These sectors are Aerospace,
Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure, Social Care, and FoodProcessing.
The Automotive Manufacturing sector in Wales, with alocation quotient of 0.96, is close to the size one mightexpect (in terms of numbers of business units). In otherwords, Wales has ‘a fair share’ of business units in thissector, according to these NOMIS figures. At the otherend of the scale, the Business and Finance sector, with asite location quotient of only 0.6, is under-representedwithin Wales - confirming the findings of the first FutureSkills Wales study in 1998.
Again, the quotient for ‘Agricultural Businesses’ reflectsthe limitations of the method, although it may indicatethat Welsh farms and agricultural businesses tend to besmaller than the average for Great Britain, inasmuch asfewer of them are large enough to be included asbusiness units.
Figure B.4: Site Location Quotients
Source: NOMIS
Selection of Sectors for the StudyThe above discussion sheds light on the reasons forselecting this set of nine sectors. The reasons vary, butcan be simply expressed as follows (some sectors areselected for more than one reason):
• sectors with significant proportions of Welshbusinesses and/or workforce (Tourism, Business andFinance, Social Care);
• sectors which are important components ofmanufacturing industry within Wales (Aerospace,Electronics, Automotive, Food Processing);
• sectors which are relatively strong in Wales(Aerospace, Tourism, Social Care, Food Processing);
• sectors which are relatively weak in Wales, but areimportant for future growth (Business and Finance,Media/New Media);
• sectors with particular significance for Welsh cultureand communities (Agriculture, Media/New Media).
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000
Agricultural Businesses
Business/finance
Media/New Media
Social Care
Tourism
Aerospace
Automotive
Electronics
Food Processing
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
Business/finance
Agricultural Businesses
Electronics
Media
Automotive
Food Processing
Social Care
Tourism
Aerospace
24
Social Care Sector
AcknowledgementsYork Consulting Limited would like to thank all those who contributed to the study and commented on early drafts;particular thanks goes to the following for their input:
Colin Vyvyan – Social Services InspectorateSally Vaughan – NCH in WalesGeoff Supple – West Wales TECEuros Owens – TOPSS CymruRhian Hughes Williams – TOPSS CymruJennifer Twelvetrees – Swansea Council for Voluntary ServiceBarry Latham – Care Forum WalesAnthony Ramsay Williams – Pen-y-Bryn GroupNick Miller – Miller Researchand members of the TOPSS Cymru Committee
The views presented in this report are those of York Consulting Limited.Jo Cutter, August 2000.
Notes