workforce planning & development - introduction

The Scottish Social Services Learning Network aims to help staff and organisations achieve workforce planning and development to support continuing growth. This section provides an introduction to workforce planning and development.

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Introduction

“Ensuring we have the right people, with the right skills, in the right place, at the right time.”

This statement is from the Scottish Government publication ‘The National Strategy for the Development of the Social Service Workforce in Scotland: A Plan for Action 2005 - 2010'.

Workforce planning for the social services workforce may also be described 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 will gain:

• a means to identify and plan for the skills and productivity needs of their organisation
• greater 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.

In relation to workforce planning, the role of the Learning Networks is to enable employers to plan for the future skill needs of their organisation and to assist them in meeting these needs through offering information and advice; providing a platform for discussing and contributing to the local and national skills agenda; and through fostering opportunities to participate in shared learning through development work.

To achieve this, the 4 Learning Networks are working closely with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) and other bodies to analyse future workforce requirements and to consider ways in which they can best enable and support employers to meet the projected skills gaps and to promote local partnership arrangements.

Nationally, and 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.

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

• employers
• workers
• training providers
• service users and carers
• government

The delivery of the work of the SSSC is undertaken, in part, through its role as a Sector Skills Council.  The SSSC has been approved as the Sector Skills Council for social care: Skills for Care and Development.

Skills for Care and Development is employer-led with responsibility for identifying and tackling issues of skills, productivity and employability for the private, public and voluntary sectors.

The key aims of Skills for Care and Development are to:

• reduce skills gaps and shortages
• improve productivity, business and public service performance
• increase opportunities to boost the skills and productivity of everyone in the sector’s workforce, including action on equal opportunities
• improve learning supply, including apprenticeships, higher education and national occupational standards.

The way this is actioned is through a Sector Skills Agreement where Skills for Care and Development will:

• assess current and future skills needs
• assess current provision
• analyse gaps in current workforce development activity
• assess the scope for collaborative action by employers to tackle skills gaps
• develop an agreed action plan with partners.

Research commissioned by the SSSC is currently underway to identify skills needs and gaps in the workforce.