A qualified, knowledgeable and skilled workforce

We have supported people who are employed in social care and early years to develop their skills and improve their ability to effectively support people and provide care.

We have listened to the sector and worked with partners to make changes to some qualifications.

In March 2023, the Omnibus survey of the Welsh public revealed that:

67 per cent of the public think the workforce (residential care workers, home care workers and early years and childcare workers) is always skilled and professional in the work that they do.

While 67 per cent think people should receive care in Welsh, if that’s what they would prefer.

Our data suggests that around 29 per cent of the social care workforce in Wales can understand Welsh to some degree and we continue to look at ways in which we can support the workforce to use Welsh at work.

We paid £7,144,856 to local authorities through the Social Care Workforce Development Grant, match funded by £3,062,081 by local authorities, to support the social care workforce.

We made changes to the Level 2 and Level 3 Health and Social Care, and Children’s Care, Play, Learning and Development qualifications after feedback.

We made changes to the assessments and added some more units.

In November 2022, wehelped launch Wales’s first national safeguarding training, learning and development standards.

The standards set out the skills, attitudes, knowledge and values people working with adults and children at risk need to have.

We published our analysis on the qualifications of the registered workforce who provide care and support. A qualifications-based register is essential to make sure registered workers are suitably skilled and knowledgeable.