Subsidised Training For Health and Social Care Sector

Training provider Grey Matter Learning is helping health and social care providers tap into government funding to up-skill their staff and strengthen their management teams.

As the pressures on health and social care have increased, training has never been more vital to ensure operators in the sector have a workforce that can respond to the needs of their community and maintain high standards of care.

Alex Knapp, Co-Founder of Grey Matter Learning, said: “It is no secret that health and social care is under unprecedented pressure from all directions, whether it is staff shortages, maintaining standards of care throughout the pandemic or addressing the needs of a growing ageing population.

“Furthermore, a third of health and social care providers do not have a registered manager, due in part to not being able to find and recruit suitable candidates.”

To respond to this particular issue, Skills for Care has developed two courses ‘Well Led’ and ‘Lead to Succeed’ that support businesses with growing and enhancing their skills in-house and helping more people move into senior roles. Grey Matter Learning are a Skills for Care Centre of Excellence and licensed to deliver the programmes across England

Alex went on to say: “Both courses are funded by the Workforce Development Fund (WDF), so our customers will be able to sign-up individuals and claim back some or all of the cost once learners have completed the qualification and evidence of the learner’s certificate is provided.”

The benefits of the WDF go beyond saving on training costs. In 2018/19 an independent evaluation showed that employers were able to improve the quality of care they provided as a direct consequence of the WDF. Employers also reported that they were able to more effectively meet the specialist or personalised needs of the people who receive their care or support.

Funding is only available until March 2022, so health and social providers need to act quickly to benefit from the scheme.

You can find more information about the fund and what qualifications are available as part of the fund here – see links from previous WDF blog