How is the Welsh Government improving the availability of training for care home workers in Wales?
As part of registration, care home workers are required to undertake continuous professional development (CPD), ensuring that workers are always building upon their skills.
The SCW Workforce Development Programme (SCWWDP) is a long-established grant programme to support training and workforce development across social care in Wales, funded through Social Care Wales (SCW). The annual grant plus match funding by local authorities, is distributed regionally and is used by local authorities to support training and workforce development activity in both their own organisations and for external providers.
Through SCWWDP, SCW works alongside regional workforce leads to support social care staff, both external and internal, with qualifications through different pathways. This includes support for managers.
All regions report on an extensive programme of learning, based on needs analysis, available and marketed to the whole sector free of charge.
Common themes for learning and development across the regions in care homes include training in dementia, safe administration of medicines or medication management and neurodiversity. This is alongside the traditional levels of support to the regional safeguarding boards in place to support a wide range of levels of training. SCW also provides resources and support to employers in the social care sector to help them manage their workforce effectively and maintain high standards of care.
Positively, as part of the SCW 2024 Workforce Survey: Have Your Say, 87% of the workforce said they have the right training for their role (compared to 79% in 2023). Similarly, the vast majority (80%) have enough training to fulfil their CPD requirements. We will continue to work with SCW on training opportunities for our workforce, which includes appropriate training to support their career development in addition to their CPD.