The Social Care Workforce Race Equality Standard - how representation supports retention

We catch up with Fiona Murphy, our Head of Culture and Diversity, to hear how we’re helping our sector become more equitable and attract and retain staff.

This month’s campaign is all about the ‘Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care’. The Strategy places a huge focus on how we can better attract and retain staff in social care, and I wanted to spend some time talking about one particular programme that will help our sector improve its recruitment and retention efforts by creating more equitable and inclusive workplaces.

Social care is a highly diverse workforce, However, despite this, it lacks inclusivity when it comes to senior positions. The data shows that staff with a minoritised ethnic background are half as likely to be appointed from a shortlist and half as likely to be promoted than their white colleagues. It’s crucial that we begin to tackle this issue if we’re to make the sector fairer and more attractive.

The Social Care Workforce Race Equality Standard (SC-WRES) Improvement Programme is highlighted within the Strategy as an important tool for attracting and retaining talent through equal access to career development. This initiative aims to address race inequality in social care by gathering insights into the experiences of Black, Asian, and minoritised ethnic staff. The SC-WRES has seen impressive growth since its launch, building on a successful test phase with 18 participating organisations in 2021, this number has grown to 85 local authorities due to take part in the upcoming second phase.

The programme asks participating organisations to collect and submit data on nine race equality indicators, seven of which are aligned with NHS WRES. This data informs an annual report, establishing a crucial evidence base and pioneering dataset for the sector. The project is also supported by an independent advisory group which is composed of global majority professionals, leaders, academics and authors who help promote and advise on the initiative.

The goal of this is not just to provide critical analysis and reporting on the data that highlights a lack of diversity in social care leadership positions, but to ensure the conclusions drawn from the SC-WRES are used to implement meaningful change. To do this, the SC-WRES provides participants with support through monthly community of practice sessions, peer-to-peer guidance, ongoing guidance and resources and support to develop annual action plans.

By effecting real change in their organisations, the participant local authorities are not only addressing the moral question of representation but are making themselves far more likely to attract candidates from a wider pool of talent. Minoritised ethnic people will see opportunities for career growth and are more likely to apply, while existing employees who see themselves increasingly represented in the workforce, especially in leadership roles, are more likely to feel valued and understood.

I’m delighted to see the Workforce Strategy recognise these benefits, calling for the continued funding of the SC-WRES programme, with consideration being given to the possibility of making it available to all social care employers. The Strategy even goes further by calling for DHSC to mandate the implementation of the programme across all local authorities in England and recommends CQC integrate into their assessment framework, which I think would be excellent steps towards acknowledging the importance of this work to our sector.

The Workforce Strategy represents the biggest steps forward for our sector in recent memory, while the SC-WRES continues to go from strength to strength. I think this is one of the best and previously untapped areas for future recruitment and retention improvements and I’m confident that if the sector continues to embrace the shared principles of both the Strategy and the SC-WRES that our sector will benefit massively.

Make sure you visit our hub pages to find out more about the SC-WRES or the ‘Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care’.

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