How the Department of Health and Social Care is supporting learning and development

Gareth Young, Deputy Director for Adult Social Care Workforce Reform at the Department of Health and Social Care, shares how their current projects work together to support vital learning and development in adult social care.

The Government is fully committed to supporting the adult social care workforce to be recognised as the professional, well-trained workforce that it is. As part of this commitment, my colleagues and I at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) have been working to provide improved workforce training, learning opportunities and career progression to the sector.

I wanted to provide an update on how we’re doing this and the work we’re supporting to improve the provision of social care services and ensure the workforce is equipped to deliver high-quality care into the future.

The Care Workforce Pathway

The introduction of the Care Workforce Pathway earlier this year represents a significant step forward in shaping career development and learning opportunities for care staff. Designed to provide clarity, structure, and professional growth opportunities, the Pathway aims to ensure that those who work in care can see a clear route for career progression.

One of the central efforts in the development of the Care Workforce Pathway was to identify the specific knowledge, skills, values and behaviours required for different roles, helping providers offer targeted learning and development opportunities to their staff. It recommends training based on role category, setting/service type and individual’s personal development goals, ensuring that learning is tailored to the needs of both the individual and the organisation.

To support care providers to adopt this framework, the department launched an Early Adopters programme - 30 social care providers who have been testing the fundamentals of the Pathway across a variety of settings. Working with our delivery partner, the Early Adopters have developed a series of resources, including guidance and templates, that will help line managers to have meaningful career conversations with staff. This will help highlight gaps and opportunities for learning that allow individuals to achieve their professional goals, and will be published in spring.

Updated principles for delegated healthcare activities

In November 2024, we published updated guiding principles for safe, effective, person-centred delegated healthcare, supporting this government’s commitment to enable care workers to undertake routine healthcare interventions. The principles have been co-developed with Skills for Care and informed by testing and evaluation with local projects to ensure the principles align with, and can be adapted to, local contexts and existing good practice.

When done well, delegation can improve people’s experience of care, create opportunities for the care workforce to develop and progress, and support government’s vision for more integrated, home and community-based healthcare. The guiding principles will support the health and care sector to put delegation into practice and are a reminder of the valuable contribution care workers and personal assistants make to supporting people to live independently and achieve their goals.

The revised principles and supporting resources can be found at: Delegated healthcare activities. We will continue to work with national partners and stakeholders across health and care, including people who access care, to ensure that we realise the benefits of delegation for people accessing care, the workforce and health and care organisations.

Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate Qualification

Research shows that nearly half of care providers do not accept Care Certificate training from other employers, leading to repeated retraining for workers when they switch jobs, which is a significant waste of time and resources.

To solve this issue, we commissioned Skills for Care to develop a new qualification, titled Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate Qualification, based on the long-standing Care Certificate standards.

The new Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate Qualification aims to standardise initial training across the sector. It is designed to provide up-to-date knowledge and ensure that staff possess the right baseline skills. By offering a reliable, accredited introductory qualification to the sector, the new Level 2 Adult Social Care Certification Qualification increases the portability of skills, reducing the need for repeat training when staff move between employers. Additionally, experienced staff can benefit from recognition of prior learning, helping them achieve their qualification more quickly.

To support the rollout of this new qualification, funding up to £1,500 per learner can be accessed by eligible care employers, via the new Learning and Development Support Scheme.

The Learning and Development Support Scheme

We know that funding for training means care providers can offer more development opportunities to their staff. The Learning and Development Support Scheme allows eligible employers to claim reimbursement for a range of training courses and qualifications. These topics cover areas such as end-of-life care, dementia care, leadership, and digital skills, ensuring that care workers have access to essential and diverse learning opportunities.

The scheme covers learning paid for and started between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, with claims submissions due by 21 March 2025. Please refer to our guidance on GOV.UK (linked above) for more information and to learn how eligible employers can access the fund. Providers must have completed the Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set to access the Learning and Development Support Scheme. It gives us important insights about the workforce and provides tools and benefits for care providers to use in their organisations too.

Quality Assured Care Learning Service

One of the sector's concerns is finding reliable learning providers and ensuring the quality of training offered. To address this, the Quality Assured Care Learning Service has been launched to help providers select training partners who meet rigorous quality standards. This service assesses both the training provider and the course content, ensuring care providers get value for money and high-quality, relevant training.

In the long term, we aim to ensure that all training and development funded through the Learning and Development Support Scheme will be quality assured by this service. Additionally, by identifying the sector’s learning and development priorities, we can shape the list of learning that is eligible for funding and support the development of new courses and qualifications.

To gain a greater understanding of the adult social care sector’s learning and development needs and priorities, DHSC is inviting the adult social care sector to share insights via this short survey administered by Skills for Care. This feedback will help us continue to shape our support for the sector.

Looking ahead

We’re hopeful that the initiatives discussed here will result in significant positive change for the adult social care sector in the coming years. By offering clear career progression, reliable training, and funding support, we’re confident we can create better working environments and more promising careers for those working in our sector, while delivering better care outcomes for those it supports.

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