Why learning and development matters

As we launch our ‘Learning and development matters’ campaign, our CEO Oonagh Smyth reflects on why learning and development is more important than ever and how Skills for Care can support you in 2025.

I’m thrilled to begin 2025 with our ‘Learning and development matters’ campaign, continuing our tradition of starting the year with a focus on this critical topic. Last year’s campaign received great feedback from the sector, and we’re once again hoping to help providers and care staff thrive in the year ahead.

Learning and development are at the heart of an organisation’s success, as investing in these areas is key to retaining a capable workforce. Regular learning and development will help ensure workers can remain up to date with best practice to provide the best care and support. Ultimately, this investment translates to better quality care and support for the people who draw on social care.

Helping your staff develop is a core part of a pleasant and progressive working environment. It makes staff feel valued and reassured in their employer’s desire to see them become more capable and offers them opportunities to celebrate advancement in their career. This makes them more likely to remain with you in the long run.

Retaining staff is something that our sector needs to do better if we’re to keep up with the increasing demand for care services. Our data shows care workers who receive more training opportunities have lower turnover, with the average turnover rate amongst care workers with at least one instance of training recorded being 31.5%. This decreased by 9.3 percentage points to 22.2% for those with more than 30 instances of training.

Developing your leaders and managers is a critical part of this for social care providers as establishments with more stable managerial structures tend to be better led, which typically allows them to perform better during Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections.

The ‘Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care’, which launched in July, points towards learning and development as a key lever for change if we’re to achieve long term workforce goals. The ‘Train’ section of the Strategy makes recommendations to help improve the quality and quantity of training across all levels of social care to ensure that the sector can both retain staff and deliver high standards of care delivery. By embracing this Strategy, the sector has a powerful opportunity to champion its own needs and advocate for meaningful change, making it a vital tool for securing the future of social care.

We also want to use this campaign to focus on some of the recent changes to the sector’s learning and development landscape. We’ll provide insight into the new Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate Qualification, the ongoing development of the Care Workforce Pathway and how to access funding in 2025 through the Learning and Development Support Scheme.

Race Equality Week is in February. This provides us with a timely opportunity to highlight learning and development resources that promote inclusive workplaces. We’ll hear from local authorities who have used insights from the SC-WRES to learn and improve their organisations to achieve better, more equitable workplaces.

Skills for Care offers a variety of training and development initiatives to help adult social care become more skilled and better led, including the ‘Moving Up’ and ’Leading through digital change’ programmes. Our focus will be on expanding the impact of these successful programmes, showcasing how they can benefit more care organisations and the wider workforce, driving continuous improvement across the sector.

The campaign will offer a wealth of information, articles, and resources designed for everyone working in social care, from care workers to registered managers, nurses, social workers, individual employers, personal assistants, and more.

Visit our ‘Learning and development matters’ landing page to find out more.

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