Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council

Ty Keir Hardie
Riverside Court
Avenue de Clichy Merthyr Tydfil, CF47 8XE

Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol Merthyr Tudful
Ty Keir Hardie
Cwrt Glan Yr Afon
Avenue de Clichy
Merthyr Tudful
CF47 8XE

Annual Social Care Workforce Development Programme for the Personal Social Services in Merthyr Tydfil 2007 - 2008

1.Context of the Plan – Local Issues:

Diagram 1 - Levers to Quality Servicesremains the focus for the setting of this application and plan and incorporates what is already in existence within the Merthyr Tydfil Planning Framework.

The Merthyr Tydfil Social Care Workforce Development Partnership intends to use the resources available from this application to continue to sustain commitment to quality services. The development of the work completed to date can only be sustained by encouraging further evaluative objective setting through ‘Partnership’ to address areas of weakness.

The Merthyr Tydfil Social Care Workforce Development Partnership Business Plan supports the actions to improve the quality of services provided by the social care sector in Merthyr Tydfil planned by the ‘Strategic Implementation Groups’, which are inclusive of all partner members.

Diagram 1 - Training Planning And Levers to Quality Services:

The Qualification Framework, National Minimum Standards and the Skills Foresight Plan continue to inform the development of a training and development pathway for all its employees from new recruit to senior managers. Current progress revolves around an ‘All Wales Scheme’, which is making steady progress. Critical information which will come from the results of Joint Review will also inform the development of training.

The plan is to strategically project manage this training and development pathway through the ‘All Wales Training Managers Group’. To ensure that the pathway is ‘fit for purpose’ for the geographical area, consideration needs to be given to the point of entry, employment setting, and the individual local considerations such as, the local human resources strategy, progression, appraisal and registration. The local Social Care Workforce Development Partnership strategic objectives will need to be informed of developments and consulted in order to carry this forward into the sector as a whole.

A major focus of the Merthyr TydfilSocial Care Workforce DevelopmentPartnership will be to incorporate as a priority the training and development implications of the new legislative guidelines affecting us in 2007/2008 and new policies and strategiesand any new research. These include:

  • Children Act 2004 and accompanying Guidance
  • Adoption and Children Act 2002

Policies andProceduressuch as the:

  • Creating a Unified and Fair System for Assessing and Managing Care
  • Care Programme Approach to Mental Health
  • Integrated Children’s System
  • Protection of vulnerable adults

Strategies and Guidance such as:

  • ‘Fulfilled Lives, Supportive Communities’
  • Health Social Care and Wellbeing Strategies
  • ‘Making the connections – Delivering Beyond Boundaries’

Outcomes from Consultation documents such as:

  • ‘Consultation on Social Care Sector (Staff in Direct Care Settings) Skills Review

The above will be developed as part of the overall plan. The internal training section is a critical integrated service which links adults and children social care. This approach is vital for the success of the local authority pathways, which need to be founded on sound equal opportunities policies and practices.

2.Priorities and Desired Outcomes for the Year:

Training Priorities:

Due to the importance of integrating both Adult and Children Social Care and aligning with the ‘Corporate Strategic Service Plan’ and the ‘Health Social Care and Wellbeing Strategies’ the Local Authority as the lead partner in the Merthyr Tydfil Social Care Workforce Development Partnership agreed to be the pilot for the development and implementation of a matrix relating to the current qualification/training status of each member of staff across the Directorates. This includes information on the need for induction of new staff and the assessed ongoing training needs of the workforce. This pilot scheme will be the subject of evaluation and will be ‘rolled out’ to the Social Care Workforce Development Partnership membership on completion.

Guides to the implementation of the National Minimum standards Framework for Older Persons and Domiciliary Care to assist stakeholders to meet statutory responsibilities and encourage good practice have been developed and rolled out to the relevant services within the SCWDP. The next stage will be to utilise the document to identify training requirements to meet gaps in terms of the National Minimum standards requirements.

A Human Resources Strategy has been drafted by a ‘task and finish’ group comprising members of the SCWDP and is to be the subject of consultation, refinement and implementation during 2007 – 2008.

A six-monthly training calendar has been developed in collaboration with Development Officers and Carers Network to specifically meet carers and service users training needs. It is hoped that there will be continued development in this area during the coming year.

Merthyr Tydfil has been in negotiation with neighbouring Authorities with a view to collaboration in this area.

  • The Social Care Workforce Development Partnership continues to work together to provide a quarterly training calendar as a response to ongoing training needs.
  • A continued priority is the provision of a range of NVQ qualifications. As a drive towards developing a Centre of Excellence in Merthyr Tydfil work continues to be done with Merthyr TydfilCollege to ensure high quality provision of NVQ Levels 2, 3 and 4 in Care, Business Administration and Management to priority groups.
  • The authority currently seconds nine members of staff who are at various levels in respect of completing their Social Work Degree. It is envisaged that a minimum of three candidates will be seconded to the Social Work Degree in 2007/2008 however; this number may be increased dependent on the outcome of discussions to take place with local authority Senior Manager and the Social Care Workforce Development Partnership in April 2008.
  • Considerable work has been undertaken on refocusing the services for people with learning disabilities. In 2007/08 a priority will be to deliver training that supports this change agenda.
  • An audit of professional qualifications and In Service Training needs has been completed and colleagues have allocated the budget in line with WAG and local priorities.

Desired Outcomes:

The Merthyr Tydfil Social Care Workforce Development Partnership continues to take its aim of improving the quality and management of social care provision, as a foundation priority. Therefore the following strategic objectives have been set which the Partnership will work towards over the new financial year: Evaluation of these objectives is a key component of the work of the Partnership.

Strategic Objective 1

Develop relevant training pathways to qualifications across the whole social care sector by April 2008

Critical Tasks

  • The drafting of Progression Routes awaits the outcome of work being carried

out by the All Wales Training Managers Group. However, in the interim a

‘stepping stones’ approach to the degree in social work/Degree in

Occupational Therapy has been implemented in the authority and across the Social Care workforce Development Partnership. An outline of this approach is provided later in this paper.

  • Progress on Identifying acceptable qualifications and publicising a list awaits

the outcome of work being undertaken by the All Wales Training Managers Group.

  • As an interim measure Merthyr Tydfil will work with teams in 14-19 learning pathways and the lifelong learning campus to utilise important pathways information from those projects.
  • Further consideration is being given to one common training needs analysis

and the Social Care Workforce Development Partnership requires an outcome by March 2008 subject to work being carried out across Wales.

  • Meetings have been held with Senior Managers within the local authority to prioritise training needs for the financial year April 2007 – March 2008.
  • Develop a range of training opportunities from 1 April 2007 – 31 March 2008.
  • The plan for increasing the numbers being supported to gain a social work qualification is under continuous review
  • Review the trainee scheme and report back to the Social Care Workforce Development Partnership and Senior Managers within the Local Authority

Strategic Objective 2

Increase the level of service user and carer involvement on training & development opportunities

Critical Tasks

  • Through the outcomes of work carried out by Development Workers and the

Carers Network the training needs of service users and carers will continue to be monitored and assessed throughout the year. Develop a training pathway for carers and service users by end of August 2007.

  • Develop collaborative mechanisms with other Local Authorities, In particular, Identify training providers/facilitators with RCT through the Carers Project by

end of October 2007

  • Development Officers and Training Managers to establish training priorities and facilitation of training by end of January 2008.
  • Develop effective monitoring system(s) to consult on outcomes of provision – training plans evaluated by service users by 28 February 2008.

Strategic Objective 3

Achieve an integrated approach to Health & Social Care training

Critical Task

  • Continued Commitment to a working group/partnership which starts to form the basis of a Centre of Excellence that includes a link with Adult Education Service, Lifelong Learning Campus project and University of Glamorgan and MerthyrCollege, Open University and the Unions.
  • Continue to develop route map for whole social care sector and build on STF

lines and qualifications

  • Continue to prioritise training needs and identify resources to meet WAG requirements.
  • Continue to develop a communication structure, plan and methods, and new terms of reference.
  • In partnership with other local authorities apply for external sources of funding.
  • Negotiate with training providers for free / subsidised training places.
  • Investigate new Social Care Leadership Training Programme.

Strategic Objective 4

Develop a common Human Resource Strategy

Critical Tasks

  • Agree the HR – SCWD Strategy by September 2007
  • Identifying existing practices within the partnership on each of these components by end of October 2007.
  • Sharing best practice with all partners on the standards and processes of each component by end of October 2007.
  • Identify standards to each component of the HR strategy by end of December 2007.
  • Identifying what standards should be adhered to and why by end of February 2008.
  • Negotiate with partners their contribution and processes to the HR Strategy by end of April 2008.

Strategic Objective 5

Develop programmes (e.g.process, systems) to ensure that National Minimum standards are met and achievements are increased.

Critical Tasks

  • Continue to develop a common approach to induction by 31 March 2008
  • Monitor and evaluate the adopted shared approach of implementing the Community Care Worker Induction Framework by 31 March 2008.
  • Continue to use the National Minimum Standards in Older Persons,

Residential Care,Domiciliary Care and Day Care provision to Share

Good Practice including: training and development; health & safety,

supervision, environment healthand identify gaps & priorities by 30

October 2008.

  • Develop a process/system/data to circulate/collect and evaluate Workforce Information Template information by 30 November 2007.
  • Link with HR and develop a reliable Information Technology system to

process trainingrecords and workforce information by 31 July 2007.

  • Establish a contract with MerthyrCollege to deliver NVQ Level 3 Care for

Foster Carers

  • Review manager and team leader role in NVQ Assessment process
  • Revisit Line Managers role as an Assessor within the Accommodation service

specifically in relation to the target for STF line 216 (LD)

  • NVQ Assessor recruited on a task and finish basis
  • Use of all Registered managers as NVQ Assessors

Strategic Objective 6

To ensure that the Social Care Workforce Development Partnership achieves ‘Value for Money’ through rigorous evaluation processes by 2008

Critical Tasks

  • Provide a detailed analysis for expenditure against training priorities in relation to National Occupational Standards and Service priorities and agree a format for reporting key financial management information against priorities in future years by July 2007.
  • Investigate the potential for allocating spend to each strategic objective by July 2007.
  • Investigate the full spend on social care training by Partners (Grant allocation plus additional core funding and any other funds incoming and outgoing) by March 2008.
  • Produce a cost/benefit analysis of financial contributions to all learning partners/organisations by March 2008.
  • Investigate a process for charging for non attendance at training events by March 2008.

Strategic Objective 7

To increase the proportion of staff with NVQ qualifications across the

Directorate(s) in line with WAG targets as set out in the SCWD Plan 2007/2008.

Critical Tasks

  • Establish a contract with MerthyrCollege by June 2007to deliver NVQ’s within an agreed quality framework.
  • To meet WAG targets of 50% for all residential managers to hold or be

working towards an NVQ Assessors awardand assess a minimum of two NVQ

candidates on a rolling assessment programme.

  • To commission MerthyrCollege to deliver NVQ level 3 in Care for Foster Carers in orderto meet WAG targets by March 2008.
  • To commission MerthyrCollege to deliver MCI Level 3,4, and 5 in response to assessed need by March 2008.

Strategic Objective 8

The purpose of the Merthyr Tydfil Social Care Workforce Development Partnership is to draw active and participative membership from commissioners and commissioned services in order to evidence links with the relevant training plan for the Partnership and provide impetus for the achievement of the local partnership aspirations.

Critical Tasks

  • Contracts and Commissioning representation at the MTSCWD Partnership group meetings to support the ongoing strategic development and implementation of the SCWD Plan.
  • Contracts and Commissioning to support the implementation of the SCWD Partnership Plan by providing the Partnership Co-ordinator with regular accurate information relating to all commissioned and Service Led Agreement services provided for social care in Merthyr Tydfil.
  • By 31 March 2008 provide current update on all social care contracts (that) contain a clause relating to Training Roles and Responsibilities and identify the dates of any contracts awaiting renewal so that this can be included.

Evaluation Process:

  • The Partnership has adopted the Red,Amber,Green system to measure and monitor throughout the year how the planned and integrated approach to training through the strategic objectives outlined is attained. Negotiating with the Partnership smarter targets will continually refine this system.
  • Ensuring the increased take-up of social care relevant training across the sector as a whole whilst building on the theme of ‘one sector, one workforce’. This will be managed through the data collected annually through the Workforce Information Template system.
  • Additional features of data collection for the Local Authority include mapping ‘continuing professional development’, registration, and re-registration, plus recruitment and retention issues linked to social workers.
  • New Management Information will be introduced in 2007/2008 giving regular feedback to key personnel on training take up, attendance and progress towards qualifications.

National Training Targets for the Whole of the Social Care Sector in Wales, April 2007/08:

The Local Authority collects the data for the sector as a whole in relation to the above targets using the adapted Workforce Information Template.

The Contracts and Commissioning Team have responsibility for including in all contracts as they come up for renewal a clause that makes it a requirement for this information to be supplied to the Local Authority upon request for annual returns. The responsibility for the rest of the sector meeting the qualification targets is an expectation of the contract. The local Partnership is currently in agreement with this arrangement and prefers to operate independently or in negotiated partnership arrangements.

The SCWDP are continuing to explore the viability of a Centre of Excellence for Health and Social Care for the Heads of the Valleysand work has already started with collaboration with Merthyr TydfilCollege. The Open University have identified an interest in utilising the town centre facilities when available.

This Centre of Excellence will concentrate on the full qualification frameworks. An outline business proposal has been produced which will be discussed with the Social Services Directors and Social Care Workforce Planning Partnership.

The Training & Development Section continues to be approved by the City & Guilds Awarding Body to operate as an Assessment Centre for the revised Health & Social Care Awards at levels 2 – 4. Officers are currently negotiating the contract with MerthyrCollege in order to ensure best value use of resources and a clear focus on outcomes.

  1. Summary of progress made last year and planned corrective action this year, building on the updated strategic plan

Last years Annual Plan identified a number of critical tasks against each of the objectives. Progress overall has been good. Appendix 1illustrates progress against each of the critical tasks. The five-year ‘Partnership Business Plan’ for Merthyr Tydfil was split into six strategic implementation groups. The decision to elect two champions (one from the Local Authority and one from the sector as a whole) per group was agreed by the Partnership at the Business Planning Day. The rationale to continue with this approach is based on the need to ensure expertise in the appropriate area, the willingness to commit the resources to the process and to balance the perspectives from across the sector.

In order to keep continuity the agreement was to tackle the work associated with the achievement of the objectives through a task centred approach. Each group therefore continues to use a business management technique known as ‘How, How?’ to continually develop and refine the tasks that form the basis of the work to be completed.

The adoption of the Red, Amber,Greensystemhas enabled the Merthyr Tydfil Social Care Workforce Development Partnership to refocus and realign tasks to meet the aim of improving the quality and management of social care provision.