Skills for Care Update

Summary: The Care Workforce Pathway

You may be aware that Skills England has identified health and social care as a priority sector. Their data shows that these fields have the second-highest proportion of the total workforce in demand occupations, with over 3 million workers. In 2022, the sector also faced a 40% skills shortage—nearly double the rate from 2017.

Skills for Care has been working in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care to develop the Care Workforce Pathway, a comprehensive framework designed to clearly define careers in adult social care, detailing the knowledge, skills, values, and behaviours essential for delivering high-quality, personalised care and support. It aims to help address recruitment and retention issues by providing a shared vision for the workforce and a recognised platform to support career progression and individual learning, making the sector a more attractive place to work.

The Care Workforce Pathway will empower people working in adult social care to develop themselves and their careers by setting out how they can gain skills, access learning and development, and grow in their careers in a way that meets their aspirations.

Please click here to find further information on The Care Workforce Pathway and how it has been developed.

Pioneer the Care Workforce Pathway 

Skills for Care has been recruiting for 90 adult social care employers to adopt the Care Workforce Pathway as part of a support programme. Participants will receive support, early access to resources, and the chance to shape future policy and practice.

Spaces are limited and due to high interest in the support programme, we’re currently reviewing submissions and taking a short pause on new recruitment. This means there may be a delay, from when you register your interest, to when we contact you about support programme options.

If you haven’t signed up yet, please do still register your interest — we’ll be in touch when the next phase opens later this year.

Find out more and register your interest today. 

The state of the adult social care sector and workforce in England 2025 - Regional launch event:

Skills for Care uses data compiled from adult social care employers via the Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set (ASC-WDS) to produce reports about the state of the adult social care sector. Our website hosts interactive visualisations where you can access detailed analysis on topics such as demographics, qualifications, recruitment and retention, as well as summary reports for your local area. 

Devon Summary

My Local Authority Area 2024 | Tableau Public

We are delivering the State of the Adult Social Care Workforce in England Regional Launch Event on 23rd October at 9:30am.

At this webinar, you will:

• hear about the report at a national level, including a look at the key themes and any significant changes from previous years' data
• learn about what the data is telling us about the adult social care workforce local to you
• discover the benefits of data at a regional, system and local level
• be shown how to access the national, regional and local data using our website and Tableau visualisations
• join a regional breakout room for a regional focus and discussion on what the data is telling us in your area, the challenges it represents and what actions you can take.

Click here to book your place.