Costs of induction ‘must be funded’

The Department of Health must find “a lot of money” to fund social care employers to induct workforce newcomers if this becomes a condition of registration, the sector’s training chief has said.

The comments from Skills for Care chief executive Andrea Rowe followed the General Social Care Council’s recommendation to the DH that induction should be a condition of registration for the estimated 750,000 residential and domiciliary care workers .

This would be based on standards developed by Skills for Care and the Children’s Workforce Development Council for adults and children’s services respectively.

Rowe said Skills for Care had estimated the cost of each induction as £250, and that current workforce turnover was 15 per cent, suggesting costs would be significant.

Though inducting new staff is necessary to meet the national minimum standards for training, Rowe said employers were not adequately funded to carry this out.

Meanwhile, public services union Unison is to mount a campaign to ensure that social care organisations pay their employees’ fees to register with the GSCC.

The move comes after half of employers that responded to a consultation on the issue said they would not pay registration fees on behalf of their staff.