Index

Section / Page
A / Partnership Summary / 1
B / The Social Care Workforce Development Partnership (SCWDP) Partnership / 2
C / Resources / 2
D / Collaborative Working Arrangements / 3
E / Evaluation and Performance Management / 6
F / Emerging Effective Practice / 7
G / SCWDP Partnership Governance / 8
H / Contact Details / 8
I / The Plan – Context of Strategic Local Needs & Priorities / 9
J / Strategic Direction / 15
K / Current Priorities / 16
L / Commitment to the Bilingual Provision of Services / 21
M / Social Work Qualifying Training Plan & Social Work Post Qualifying Training / 21
Chart 1.1 / Percentage of Qualified Local Authority Employees 2005/6 – 2011/12 / 12
Chart 1.2 / Percentage of Qualified Local Authority Employees in Categories 2011/12 / 12
Chart 1.3 / Qualified Basic Care Employees in Independent Residential Care / 13
Chart 1.4 / Qualified Basic Care Employees in Independent Domiciliary Care / 13
Chart 1.5 / Qualified Employees in Residential Child Care (excluding Managers) / 14
Chart 1.6 / Qualification Levels in the Independent & LA Residential Childcare Sectors with Wrexham (excluding Managers) / 14
Table 1a / QCF Diplomas in Health and Social Care / 18
Table 1b / QCF Diploma in Child Care Targets 2013/14 / 19
Table 2 / Management Qualification Targets 2013/14 / 20
Table 3 / Social Work Qualification Targets 2013/14 / 24
Appendix 1 / Improvement Areas of Workforce Strategy / iii
Appendix 2a / Planned attendances (Adults) 2013/14 / iv
Appendix 2b / Planned attendances (Childcare) 2013/14 / vii

This plan and the training brochure will be available on the Internet at:

by the end of June and will replace the 2012/13 plan and brochure which are currently posted there.

The Partnership

  1. Partnership Summary

In line with the planning guidance, Wrexham has developed its Social Care Workforce Strategy which includes Staff Development as one improvement area. This is available at: The Staff Development Strategy has as one of its key actions “to develop the Social Care Workforce Development Partnership in order to provide high quality, care sector services by developing the workforce and to build on the work of the Regional Social Care Partnership” (see appendix 1).

The Council has already established two Wrexham Social Care Workforce Groups (one for Child Care and one for Adults) and their membership and function are identified in:

The overarching objectives of both Groups are:

“to work together in partnership in order to provide high quality, care sector services for the people of Wrexham, by developing the workforce to build on the work of the Regional Social Care Partnership”.

The key objectives are:

  • To raise the profile of the care sector, internally and externally
  • To co-ordinate training and development opportunities
  • To share good practice e.g. around Recruitment and Retention
  • To increase access to training funds
  • To identify the specific workforce issues for Wrexham – short/medium and long term
  • To share information/provide co-ordinated response to consultation papers
  • To respond to workforce initiatives

These groups are the basis of Wrexham’s Social Care Workforce Development Partnership but will have the benefit of dealing with all workforce matters. These Partnerships have been developed and are structured without formal representation as they are open to all registered providers in Wrexham whether they are commissioned services or not. They have been open to all interested parties across the sector and have concentrated on practical issues such as the provision of QCF qualifications and short courses.

Chair of Adult Partnership:

Steven G. Williams ……………………………………………….

Head of Policy & Performance, Adult Social Care

Chair of Children’s Partnership:

Susan Evans………………………………………………………...

Head of Children & Young Peoples Service, Prevention and Social Care

Statutory Director of Social Services:

Andrew Figiel ………………………………………………………...

B.The SCWDP Partnership

The draft plan for 2013/14 was sent to all members of the Partnership and was the main item of discussion at the February meetings of both the Children’s and Adults Partnerships.

The major priority in respect of both Adults and Children’s Services remains access to qualifications and underpinning knowledge courses, particularly Diplomas in Health and Social Care, as identified in Section K.

In order to meet these priorities, an additional amount (including the £20,000 ring fenced funding) will again be invested in the direct provision of and the purchasing of registration, assessment and certification of these awards. This is through two temporary additional full-time Assessor/Trainers employed by the Local Authority. In addition a purchase of over 50 Diplomas via YaleCollege will be made in about June 2013.

An additional 0.5 Trainer for “Reablement” will be engaged to assist the whole sector on this programme.

No other staff member is engaged solely or mainly to “support the SCWD Partnership”. However, the role of all staff is to support the delivery of training and qualifications to the whole Social Care Workforce sector i.e. the Partnership.

This reflects that in previous years at least 40% of all course attendances were non Council employees and at least 75% of all qualifications sponsored and obtained were in respect of non Council employees i.e. the outcomes of the Partnership priorities.

C.Resources

The Council has a Workforce Strategy and Development Service for its Social Services function. The delivery of the SCWDP is part of the remit of this service. These staff are solely/mainly involved in the delivery of the SCWDP plan are:

Head of Service Grade L130.5 FTE

Social Care Workforce Development Co-ordinatorGrade L111 x FTE

Staff Development & Training Officer (SDTO)Grade L103 x FTE

(the above includes Local Safeguarding Board work)

Senior AdministratorGrade L061 x FTE

AdministratorsGrade L04/52.5 FTE

QCF Assessment Centre Team LeaderGrade L081 x FTE

QCF Assessors/TrainersGrade L075 x FTE

Temporary QCF Assessors/TrainersGrade L072 x FTE

(for Independent Sector only)

The County Borough Council continues to invest substantially in the training and development of staff. The indicative training support programme from the Welsh Government is £505,280 including the £353,696 grant and LA contribution of£151,584. In addition, the Local Authority invests £448,194to the SCWPD including income from Care Council and others.

The allocation of total budget (including SCWDP)for the main areas of spend is as follows:

Budget Allocation / Subtotals £ / Total £
Staffing (Head of Service, Trainers, QCF
Assessors and Support Staff) / 450,000
Transport and premises / 11,200
Equipment and Consumables / 10,201
Child Care Training / 38,000
LSCB trainer / 19,500
Community Care Training / 55,000
PQ Training and AMHP Refresher Training (including ring fenced £20k) / 40,000
Social Worker Qualifying Scheme (including ring fenced £20k) / 49,500
Social Work Sub total (including ring fenced £40k) / 89,500
Management Development / 15,000
Support Services, Welsh Language, Equality & IT / 10,000
Health and Safety – Total
(This includes £26,000 from SCWDP and £40,000 from LA contribution) / 66,000
Project on Wrexham Website Information / 1,000
Purchase of QCF from YaleCollege, QCF Fees & Other Support / 20,000
Workforce Partnership (including £20k Ring fenced), & 2 Temp QCF Assessors + Reablement Trainer / 84,945

This means an investment of £599,778 by the Authority in addition to the grant from the Welsh Government of £353,696.

Totalling £953,474

D.Collaborative working arrangements

The Social Care Workforce is not a single sector but varies from very local social care services such as home care to very small specialised and regional services such as Social Workers in hospices, out of hours duty teams, Occupational Therapy. It is appropriate that the training is organised and delivered to meet the needs of the workforce recognising that training for mobile professionals can be sub regional or regional whereas training for locally based care workers (many not having their own transport) will clearly need to be local.

We organise our co-ordination into five areas:

a)Regional/sub regional services and their access to training;

b)The provision of specialist training to small groups;

c)Response to Government policy initiatives or new legislation;

d)Efficiencies using the purchasing power of several Local Authorities;

e)Partnerships with other Training Providers in particular YaleCollege.

The six Local Authorities in North Wales work as part of the North Wales Social Services Improvement Collaboration (NWSSIC). In 2012, a Regional Social Care Workforce Strategy & Development Board was created to inform NWSSIC on all workforce matters. It is currently chaired by the Statutory Director of Ynys Mon and Wrexham is represented by David Palmer, Head of Service, Workforce Planning & Professional Development.

The six Training Managers meet on a quarterly basis to feed into the Regional Workforce Board and the Training Managers Executive Group of Association of Directors for Social Services Cymru to maintain and improve the collaboration identified below.

D1. Regional/Sub Regional Services and their access to Training

Following agreements in the last couple of years a number of services are now delivered sub regionally/regionally with the one Local Authority taking the lead and/or employing all the staff. The training follows such formal coordination easily.

1.1.e.g. Regional Emergency Duty Team. Wrexham leads and employs an emergency duty team of Social Workers that cover the areas of Wrexham, Denbighshire and Flintshire County Council. Training for the staff (which includes the costly sponsorship of individuals to obtain their Approved Mental Health Practitioner Award) is arranged and paid for by Wrexham and then the partnership will re-charge. The Training Plan for this service is available.

1.2.e.g. Flintshire and Wrexham run a Joint Community Equipment stores. Flintshire take the lead and employ the staff and co-ordinate all such training which is then re-charged to Wrexham.

1.3.e.g. North Wales Adoption Agency. This initiative of the six Local Authorities is led by Wrexham Council although currently many of the workers are seconded into it and have not changed employer. However the management, administration and training are organised and paid for by Wrexham and re-charged to the partner authorities. A copy of this plan can be made available.

1.4.e.g. Wrexham and Flintshire Local Safeguarding Children Boards merged on 1st April 2011 and the training for the two councils are co-ordinated through this board. This will build on the co-operation of the specialist training mentioned later.

1.5.e.g. Regional social work student support. The six North Wales Authorities have always co-operated to service the needs of Social Work students across North Wales. Each Degree has its own management board on which the LA is represented.

The Authorities currently invest by each organisation employing a placement co-ordinator who is responsible for developing placements in their own area but which may be used by the other five local authorities.

D2.Specialist Training

D2.1e.g. Achieving Best Evidence. Wrexham County Borough Council has always worked with Flintshire County Council and North Wales Police in the delivery of Joint Investigation and Achieving Best Evidence training. Following the introduction of the Specialist Child Abuse Investigator Development Programme for North Wales Police, Children’s Services and Police Training Officers across North Wales are collaborating to design a training programme which will meet the specific needs of the two disciplines whilst retaining the benefits of joint training. The programme, which has common topics and learning outcomes, will be delivered locally.

D2.2Specialist Post Qualifying Social Work Awards. The six North Wales Authorities have co-operated in the commissioning/organising of such specialist awards. Previously these included PQ1 and Practice Teaching Award but with the transfer of such awards to Higher Education Institutes, the role has been more in a commissioning and partnership role with the Higher Education Institutes.

a)All six Local Authorities have worked with GlyndŵrUniversity to establish a Post Graduate Certificate in Social Work which is geared towards newly qualified social workers but this will cease in September 2013.

b)All six LAs are members of Porth Agored which will provide a consolidation programme and through University of Wales Trinity St David, will award a Graduate Certificate in Consolidation of Social Work Practice via a portfolio route.

c)The six Local Authorities have worked with three different Universities in establishing an Award that meets the needs of experienced Social Workers who will undertake assessing of Social Work Students.Currently the University of Glamorgan award is used.

d)Wrexham, Flintshire and Denbighshire are members of the North West of England Partnership for delivery of the Approved Mental Health Practice Award at ManchesterUniversity. This same partnership allows for obtaining of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Best Interest Assessor Award.

D2.3Childcare Training. Wrexham invites Social Workers from Conwy, Denbighshire and Flintshire to attend all specialist childcare training. This recognises that between the three authorities there are less than 170 Child Care Social Workers which gives managers difficulty in releasing staff for appropriate training. This year, all 6 Local Authorities have each agreed to put £1000 aside to provide specialist training for Independent Reviewing Officers and also to respond to the Family Justice Review on a regional basis

D2.4Nationwide Co-operation. Wrexham participates in a nationwide initiative to deliver Management Training for Social Work Team Managers which has been co-ordinated by Social Services Improvement Agency.

D2.5A Dementia Group has been established across the six North Wales Authorities to look at Dementia Training provision across the region with Dementia Services Development Centre Wales,BangorUniversity. This year, we are reviewing how this learning can be rolled out on regional and expanded basis.

D2.6The six North Wales Authorities collaborate on the policies and procedures around Safeguarding Adults. This board has a Training sub-group which sets the standards and programme for Training to be delivered locally.

D2.7In response to More Than Just Words, the 6 LAs have agreed to run language awareness sessions for provider services on a sub regional basis.

D2.8We will explore potential to more formally co-ordinate Occupational Therapy Training. The numbers of these staff throughout North Wales are less than 50 and our exploration will be whether it is best to co-operate with Health and/or other Local Authorities.

D2.9The shadow North Wales Safeguarding of Children Board has established a training sub group. 2013/14 will primarily be about establishing the responsibility of the new regional board and employers.

D2.10The North Wales local authorities are working with the Care Council for Wales andWales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) to design and pilot a “Basic Awareness in Child & Adult Protection” linked to QCF units. It is hoped that this will be piloted from September 2013.

D3.Response to General Policy Initiatives under New Legislation

Over the last two years FlintshireCountyand Wrexham Councils, with the two Local Health Boards and Local Health Trusts co-operated in responding to changes in continuing healthcare and also to the introduction of the Mental Capacity Act.

D4.Efficiency Though Procurement

Six Local Authorities have set up a regional procurement framework which has established a list of preferred providers for health and safety, social care and management training.

In Wrexham, the greatest use of this framework has been in respect of health and safety training which has led to potential savings through procuring moving and handling passport training and other such courses.

D5.Partnerships with other Training Providers in particular YaleCollege

Collaboration depends upon the needs of the workforce and may not necessarily be with another Local Authority but may be with Health, Housing or LocalColleges.

In Wrexham, the delivery of the assessment of the Qualifications Credit Framework Qualifications has been delivered through a partnership with the local further education college,YaleCollege. This partnership, of some six years standing allows the Local Authority to access detailed monies and resources which are not directly available. It also allows for the combination of the experts skills and local knowledge of the sector, with the education sector with the back up of the library and all other resources available to further education college students. To date this partnership has allowed almost 1000 employees (the vast majority being from the independent sector) to gain access to qualifications.

We will negotiate with the new management of Coleg Cambria (i.e. the merged Yale and DeesideColleges) post August 2013 i.e. after their formal establishment about the continuation of this co-operation.

E.Evaluation and Performance Management

How the impact of the Social Care Workforce Development Plan on service quality will be evaluated

The achievement of Qualification Credit Frameworks (QCFs) and National Vocational Qualifications by staff across the sector demonstrates that those individuals are able to deliver a service at a quality recognised by National Occupational Standards.

E1. Outcomes and effectiveness of training offered and outcomes on the workforce

The immediate outcome and effectiveness of training offered is assessed by course evaluation by participants. In the medium term, we can assess the effectiveness by managers communicating on how this has been embedded into practice e.g. Protection ofVulnerable Adults.

Management training – Meetings are held with the candidates’ managers to establish/evaluate how their behaviour has changed.

For Adult Protection training L3 we have introduced an action plan as part of the evaluation process. This will assist participants to implement their learning in the workplace. A copy is shared with their manager and Workforce Development. We then contact managers to monitor the outcome of training.

In the longer term, underpinning knowledge is assessed as part of the QCF that individuals are able to deliver a service at a quality and standard recognised by National Occupational Standards.

How the training strategy will be evaluated:

Progress against the annual plan for the whole sector will be through quarterly reports to the Partnership and the Social Care Management Team.

In these quarterly reports, reference will be made to:

  • CSSIW and other inspections find that the induction framework is implemented by eachemployer across the whole sector.
  • Percentage of qualified staff (c.f. to National targets, all Wales targets and progress each year).
  • Number of qualifications achieved each year. Scrutiny Committee in 2011 has set a number of qualifications (70%) to be achieved within the Independent Domiciliary and Residential Sector by 2014. The responsibility for this is shared between the Contracting and Workforce Strategy & Development Services.
  • Numbers of social work practice learning opportunities for social work students.
  • The percentage of attendance and qualifications gained in the Council, Independent and Voluntary sectors.

E2. Outcomes for Service Users