Welsh dataset for residential child care workforce

The Care Council for Wales (CCW) has published its sixth annual profile of residential child care managers and workers.

The profile provides data for planners, decision makers and the Welsh Government. It will also be of interest to service providers and managers to compare their service with the national benchmarks.

The CCW uses the information in the profile to inform its programme of work to promote the professionalism and quality of practice of residential child care. In particular, the CCW has started to work with key stakeholders to develop a workforce strategy and to research further ways to address the retention of both managers and workers.

All residential child care managers in Wales hold the qualification required to practice in this role before registering. Whilst this is a significant achievement, there are no qualifications yet available specifically designed for social care managers to further develop and progress in their career. Therefore, the CCW is working on a development programme for managers that will prepare new managers for their role and provide continued learning as their progress in their management career.

Key trends revealed by the profile include the continuing problem of raising the percentage of qualified residential child care workers above 60 per cent. Workers who stay in the sector for at least 3 years almost all achieve the required qualification. However, the continuing high turnover of workers, 20 per cent in 2013 – 2014, means that many leave before they qualify.

To view the residential child care managers and workers in Wales 2014 profile, visit: http://www.ccwales.org.uk/edrms/155251/