Government Campaign To Recruit Care Workers During COVID-19
A new national recruitment drive has launched to bring “thousands more people” into social care jobs.
Leading the charge for ‘Care for Others. Make a Difference’ is health and social care secretary Matt Hancock and care minister Helen Whately.
The campaign includes the new CARE brand for social care which symbolises the entire care profession – like the iconic and recognisable NHS logo. The brand aims to raise the profile of the care sector and allow businesses to show them the same appreciation as NHS workers.
Free-to-access e-learning courses and webinars for local authority and care provider staff are also being developed. Key topics will include: safeguarding, person-centred care, dementia, Mental Capacity Act, infection control and supporting care at home.
Commenting on the campaign to recruit care workers during COVID-19, Matt Hancock said, ‘During these unprecedented times we are all grateful to the huge number of social care workers working day and night to provide quality care to the most vulnerable in our society.
‘The whole country wants to thank the 1.5 million of you for your inspirational and tireless work.
‘I want this campaign to reignite the search for people with a zest for caring and protecting our most vulnerable to step forward to join them.’
Helen Whately, Minister of State for Care, comments, ‘The care sector is a vital part of our society, and this pandemic has truly brought home the skill and commitment of care workers who are looking after some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.
‘We want to make sure everyone knows what an important and valued job care workers do, and inspire more people to step forwards to join the care workforce.
‘We also want to support care providers who are looking to recruit staff, so we are offering free initial training to applicants considering a job in care. This should help job seekers looking to work in care for the first time and their future employers.
‘We want to bring together all those thinking they might work in care with social care providers looking for new recruits, and to make it as simple as possible for the doors to open up for thousands more compassionate and committed people to work in care.’
Skills for Care has worked with Government to make rapid online induction training accessible. This includes key elements of the Care Certificate and is available free of charge. This will provide good practice resources and support for social care professionals to help the sector meet the challenge of COVID-19.
Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, commented, ‘There are thousands of people who are kind, skilled and dedicated and who have the necessary values and qualities to become part of the social care workforce. Social care transforms lives and enables people to live well. The satisfaction and rewards of delivering social care are incalculable and we hope that there will be many people who will come into the social care workforce and achieve a satisfying and rewarding career.’
Skills for Care CEO Oonagh Smyth said, ‘We know that significant numbers of social care staff are unable to work so realising this ambition of recruiting thousands of people to where they are needed by providers right across the country is absolutely vital.
‘Some of our network of endorsed training providers have secured funding to deliver learning for new staff so they have the skills and knowledge needed to make a real difference in the lives of the people they will be working with and in their communities.’
