Private Care Sector Workforce Initiative

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Introduction

"Ensuring we have the right people, with the right skills, in the right place, at the right time."

This statement is from the Scottish Government publication 'The National Strategy for the Development of the Social Service Workforce in Scotland: A Plan for Action 2005 - 2010'.

Below are a number of ways of describing and viewing what is meant by workforce planning, supported by some tools to assist the process of planning.

Workforce plans can be prepared at many levels, for example:

• At a day-to-day level, there are staffing rotas prepared by a manager to ensure that the service has all its shifts covered by staff at the right levels of responsibility and with the correct skills to ensure that services are delivered safely and effectively.
• At a training plan level, organisations may determine how many staff will undertake SVQs in the next year to meet nationally agreed targets, SSSC requirements and to raise skills levels to provide a better service.
• At a strategic level for an organisation, workforce plans might be created by an analysis of the anticipated future service demands arising from government policies; the changing age profile of the population; and judgements made on the workforce required to meet the demands, the availability of staff in the community, the adaptability of the current workforce and the affordability of it all.

In between, there are a range of ways in which organisations can plan for their future skills and staffing needs, whether they are a small independent service provider or a large corporate provider.

In considering workforce plans which are looking at the whole workforce or groups of staff, the plans need to be based on:

• Clear vision of the future direction
• Integrated with the service and financial strategy
• Based on realistic and affordable assumptions
• Take account of short and medium term changes
• Engage staff/wider stakeholders
• Link to the commissioning plans and local supply of the workforce
• Evidence based...

They may also be described as a process of analysis looking at:

• The number of people who are likely to require social services in 10 - 20 years time.
• The kind of care and support they are likely to need.
• How many workers we will need and what we will need them to do.
• Where they will come from and what skills and qualifications they will need to do their jobs.

Through workforce planning employers should gain:

• A means to identify and plan for the skills and productivity needs of their organisation.
• Greater dialogue with local commissioning bodies and government.
• Greater impact on policies affecting skills and productivity.
• Increased influence with education and training partners.
• Potential opportunities to influence how money is invested in the workforce.

At a strategic level, workforce planning may be viewed as:

• Designing the future workforce - not just understanding but influencing by ensuring that workforce considerations combine with service & financial planning.
• Developing the future workforce - includes education commissioning, staff development and recruitment & retention processes.
• Delivering the future workforce - management actions to ensure plans are delivered, processes are effective, clinicians are engaged & best practice is shared.

In relation to workforce planning, a role of the Workforce Initiative is:

"To ensure that private health and social care employers are informed of future policy and capacity requirements, are engaged in workforce planning and have the necessary tools and support to do this effectively"

To achieve this, the Workforce Initiative is working closely with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), the Scottish Social Services Learning Networks and other bodies to analyse future workforce requirements and to consider ways in which they can best enable and support employers to meet the projected skills gaps and to promote local partnership arrangements.

It is acknowledged that workforce planning contains a range of challenges which limit the ability of organisations to plan ahead. These incorporate the processes of re-tendering and commissioning of services, including the use of e-tendering. In addition, the commissioners of services may not wish to or be able to enter into discussions with employers which facilitate service providers to make medium to long term plans to re-design services and plan for the future of the workforce.

However, a number of tools are shown as ways to enter the world of workforce planning.

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