Diversity drives innovation. We're committed to developing and improving to be a more inclusive organisation; through the way we work, and through what we do to support the adult social care sector.
- We're an inclusive workplace, where we're all able to achieve our full potential.
- We'll champion diversity in our organisation and in the adult social care sector.
- We'll grow and develop our support for the adult social care sector with equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).
How we work
Race Equity Reference Group (RERG)
The RERG has been established to support Skills for Care’s commitment on championing equity, equality, and diversity. The group is made up of representatives from across the sector and includes people who work in and across social care and people with lived experience.
The RERG will support Skills for Care to develop a positive and practical narrative on race equality. The expertise and knowledge of race equity issues will be drawn upon to support the development of guidance and resources for the sector and used to promote race equity and equality across the sector.
If you’d like to find out more about the RERG please email Equalityandrights@skillsforcare.org.uk
RERG members: Dudley Sawyerr (Co-chair), Clenton Farquharson, Carmen Gardier, Naz Khan, Felix Ogundeyin, Rachel Pearce, Cintia Santoianni, Meera Spillett, Nawal Taha, Munira Thobani, Sacha Wheatley, Cherelle Wilson-Morrison.
Find out more about the RERG members
Belonging at Skills for Care
At Skills for Care our goal is to continually develop and enhance our inclusive and diverse environment, where we're all able to achieve our full potential, be who we want to be and feel that we belong so that together we can achieve our purpose.
Our Belonging strategy 'Diversity and Inclusion at Skills for Care - A Culture of belonging and active anti-discrimination' brings together the work we've been doing around EDI and outlines what we aim to achieve over the next five years, how we'll achieve it and what difference we hope we will see.
Our Belonging strategy includes three overarching objectives:
- Cultivate a culture of ‘belonging’ and identify opportunities to enhance inclusion for all.
- Enhance diversity within all teams so that there's more proportionate representation in our structure
- Take positive steps to be actively anti-racist and to tackle any internal inequalities.
We have a number of internal networks for our colleagues, a safe space where challenges facing particular groups can be discussed and ideas to reduce inequality and foster inclusion can be shared with the organisation.
What we do
Supporting EDI in in social care
People from ethnic minority communities account for one in five of the adult social care workforce in England and play a vital role in the day-to-day care of people in our communities. We've undertaken a survey, a webinar series and peer coaching to learn more and help deliver the best possible support to this important part of the workforce. Find out more.
Learning and development support for the sector
What skills and knowledge do social care staff need? Our resources help to develop awareness of the standards on equality and diversity.
Social Care Workforce Race Equality Standard
The Social Care Workforce Race Equality Standard (SC-WRES) was developed by Skills for Care as a tool to identify issues and measure improvements in the workforce with respect to the experiences of people from a Black, Asian and minority ethnic background.
Skills for Care is now responsible for the SC-WRES and following a pilot with 18 trailblazing local authorities, we’re now inviting more local authorities to become involved during the next data collection running from 1 September to mid-October. Find out more.
Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set (ASC-WDS) and workforce intelligence
We're the leading source of workforce data on adult social care in England. We use the date we collect to highlight the current state of the social care workforce and changes.
According to The state of the adult social care sector and workforce in England (October 2020), the ethnic profile of the adult social care workforce (21% Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) was more diverse than the population of England (14% BAME) in 2019-20. Workers from Black/African/Caribbean/Black British backgrounds (12%) accounted for over half of the BAME adult social care workforce. This compares to 3% of the overall population of England.
We continue to share the data we have to support key equality diversity and inclusion priorities in the social care workforce in England.
The strength of adult social care is in celebrating, valuing and recognising what makes people unique and supporting them to overcome challenges.
There's more work to be done and we'll do that with the support of our colleagues, partners, and the adult social care sector - people who work in it, are supported by it, and who want to keep pushing practice forward based on their experiences.
We'll learn quickly, improve constantly, and celebrate our achievements, and the adult social care sector's achievements.