Social care staff gain professional body to represent them

Social care workers in Wales will have a professional body to represent them with the announcement today of the launch of the Academy of Care Practitioners.

The academy, which will be formally launched at the Welsh assembly next month, is designed to raise the status of care staff and provide advice, support and representation, including through conferences, seminars, reports and annual awards schemes.

The launch of the academy follows a 12-month pilot scheme to test the concept. The academy has been developed by organisations including provider body Care Forum Wales and will be hosted by Glyndwr University.

“We talk a lot about raising the status and the professionalism of the social care workforce,” said Care Forum Wales chair Mario Kreft. “One of the biggest issues in our view is that vocationally qualified social care workers are a profession without their own professional body. We believe it’s about time that was put right.

“Due to the nature of the demanding job, it’s unrealistic to expect the care practitioners themselves in Wales to be able to bring about the creation of their own body. It is time social care workers were given some assistance to make this a reality.”

He said the university’s hosting of the academy demonstrated that it was independent of employers.

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