Answers to questions about the pilot social care workforce survey, 2023

With this survey, we hope to get answers that will help us give you the support you need and raise important issues that matter to you with policy makers in Welsh Government. That’s why we’re asking questions about your health and well-being, pay and conditions, training, qualifications and what it’s like to work in social care at the moment.

This is a pilot survey to test whether it should become an annual survey. We will make that decision in consultation with the sector once the results have been published.

The survey’s being conducted on our behalf by Opinion Research Services (ORS), an independent social research agency based in Swansea. The survey, and what it aims to achieve, is being supported by partners, including the Welsh Government, the Fair Work Forum, and the Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS) Cymru. You can find out more about ORS here.

ORS strictly adheres to the Market Research Society (MRS) Code of Conduct. You can contact the Market Research Society on 0800 975 9596.

After inviting a representative sample to complete the survey in March, we're now asking everybody on the register to take part.

We need people from all age groups and backgrounds to take part in this survey. Your views will be important in giving us a truly representative picture of what things are like for those working in social care in Wales today.

The information collected will only be used for research and statistical purposes. Your contact details are kept separate from your answers and will not be passed on to anyone outside of ORS.

Your answers will be combined with those from others taking part in the survey. We will receive the overall results and analysis from ORS, which will eventually be published in a report. This won’t include your name or contact details, and no individual will be identifiable from the results.

You will not receive any ‘junk mail’ as a result of taking part.

Yes, your data will be safe.

ORS will be responsible for collecting, storing, using, sharing and deleting your information, in line with current data protection regulations.

Social Care Wales is the data controller for the personal data you share in the survey. This means we’ll make sure ORS protects your data and that your data rights are put first.

ORS will only share anonymous data with us. Anyone reading the results won’t be able to identify you or who you work for.

We’ve shared your email address and relevant personal information (such as age and gender) with ORS so they can conduct the survey and analyse the results. ORS can’t use the information for anything else.

We are allowed to share your personal information with ORS as it enables us to carry out the research we need to perform our legal obligation of supporting improvement in social care.

Our privacy notice explains how we manage personal data, including your rights and how to exercise them. You can read our privacy notice here, and ORS’s privacy notice is available here.

ORS will keep securely any information which could identify you no later than three months after this project is complete, in summer 2023. They’ll delete your information when they’ve finished analysing the data and preparing the survey results for us.

The information will be used to help us decide how best we can support you in your work and identify issues we may need to raise with Welsh Government and other national organisations. The main findings and analysis will be published in a report which will be available on our website.

If you would like to take part, but are unable to complete the survey online, you can contact ORS on their Freephone number 0800 324 7005 or by email on HaveYourSaySurvey@ors.org.uk.

Completion of this survey is voluntary.

You may feel some of these questions are sensitive and you don’t have to answer them if you prefer not to. However, the more complete the information we collect the more useful it is when the results are analysed.

You can withdraw from the survey at any time by contacting ORS on HaveYourSaySurvey@ors.org.uk and asking them to remove your answers from the analysis.

You have until the end of the day on Thursday 4 May to respond.

If you have queries about the survey, please email Catherine Wall at ORS, HaveYourSaySurvey@ors.org.uk or Freephone 0800 324 7005, or Emma Taylor-Collins at Social Care Wales, emma.taylor-collins@socialcare.wales.