How social care trainee schemes can offer value for money

A project in Stoke-on-Trent to encourage unemployed people to become care workers has seen a 94% success rate and is transforming lives. Tracy Kirton explains why

Workforce commissioners face the task of providing for increasingly complex needs while simultaneously operating in an environment of unprecedented cuts. There is a need for growth that is more cost effective and can deliver more services.

The adult social care and health integrated workforce strategy for Stoke-on-Trent 2011-2016 aims to bring together these agendas and increase capacity of the whole sector by considering recruitment, retention, job redesign, and broadening the range of skills that staff possess.

Through a workforce commissioning board and existing forums, employers have expressed concern at the calibre of applicants, the difficulty in filling vacancies, and staff turnover. Employers agree this is a priority, as recruiting a replacement member and supporting them through initial training costs £3,683.

Employers are concerned that in order to meet commissioning intentions they will need to grow their workforce. While there are capacity issues in the sector, competition remains high between employers who want to retain their own workers and fear losing them to competitors.

Unemployed people in our city are actively seeking work in the sector but it’s clear they don’t have the prerequisite training or experience that employers are looking for, the skill to provide the level of care required by service users or the new skills required by commissioners.

By drawing together these themes, Stoke-on-Trent city council, through their ‘mandate for change’, have developed the trainee care worker scheme. The programme is simple.

The local authority employs the individual for 30 hours a week for 13 weeks at minimal wage. A programme of training is delivered by accessing spare capacity on existing training programmes which are already being delivered across the city, therefore additional costs are not incurred.

After six weeks the trainee is placed in a private or voluntary organisation where they gain invaluable work experience with additional mentoring and ongoing training. At the end of the 13-week experience a joint “fit to practice” panel assesses their progress. With the ability to provide a reference, certificates of training and valuable work experience each trainee is able to “speak” the social care language enabling them to present themselves more positively at interview.

Kick-started with income to work with the unemployed, all partners work closely together to eradicate duplication, make best use of existing resources, support one another, and achieve the same outcomes. With a salary bill of £2,500 and the resource costs involved in managing the trainees, the scheme offers value for money.

From a quantitative analysis, 46 trainees have so far accessed the scheme with performance wildly exceeding expectations. Of those completing it, 94% have secured sustainable employment, perhaps surprising when considering some candidates entered the scheme with criminal records.

By highlighting these initial hurdles, and working closely with partners, trust has been built up which has enabled the scheme to move forward, potential barriers have been lowered (often removed) and all partners have learned from the experience.

What about the individuals themselves? For many, they have never worked and some have depended upon public services to get through each and every day, but the scheme has transformed their lives. They have become independent and confident individuals, who no longer depend upon the social care economy but are a part of it and contribute to it.

The scheme proves how applying a working city strategy to commissioning a workforce for adult social care has transformed lives. As important, is that it has proved that this efficient, joined-up approach is indeed creative and innovative in developing care workers in a sector which is seeing unprecedented growth in Stoke.

Tracy Kirton is a workforce commissioning manager at Stoke-on-Trent city council.