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Workforce Planning

Planning is required to ensure "we have the right people, with the right skills, in the right place, at the right time."

The above quote from the Scottish Government publication ‘The National Strategy for the Development of the Social Service Workforce in Scotland: A Plan for Action 2005 - 2010', highlights the need for workforce planning.

Workforce planning for the social services workforce is a process of analysis looking at:

• The number of people who are likely to require social services in 10 - 20 years time
• The kind of care and support they are likely to need
• How many workers we will need and what we will need them to do
• Where they will come from and what skills and qualifications they will need to do their jobs.

Through workforce planning employers gain:

• A means to identify and plan for the skills and productivity needs of their organisation
• Dialogue with Government
• Greater impact on policies affecting skills and productivity
• Increased influence with education and training partners
• Potential opportunities to influence how money is invested in the workforce.

The Learning Networks and workforce planning

The Learning Networks support employers plan for and meet the future skill needs of their organisation through:

• Information and advice
• Providing a platform for discussing and contributing to the local and national skills agenda
• Fostering opportunities to participate in shared learning through development work
• Promoting local partnership arrangements.

The Learning Networks work closely with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) and other bodies to analyse future workforce requirements.

SSSC and workforce planning

Under the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001, the SSSC has responsibility for:

• Identifying the numbers of social service workers required
• Determining the education and training requirements of the workforce
• Drawing up national occupational standards
• Addressing the challenge of recruitment and retention of social service workers.

SSSC, in its role as Skills for Care and Development (the Sector Skills Council for social services) is required to carry out an annual Sector Skills Assessment.  These Assessments look at the sector's skills needs and can be seen as workforce planning on a national scale.  More information on them can be found on our Sector Skills Assessment page.

The SSSC carries out its functions in partnership with its key stakeholders:

• Employers
• Workers
• Training providers
• Service users and carers
• Government

Resources

The Learning Networks work with the SSSC, employers, education and training providers to support workforce planning. Refer to the Resources/ Workforce Planning section for useful links, toolkits, e-bulletins and reports relating to workforce planning.