Employer deadline for estimating ASYE numbers put back after late confirmation of government funding

Employers have been given an extra fortnight to estimate how many staff they will be putting through the adults’ assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE) in 2019-20 because of a delay in the government confirming funding for the scheme.

Councils, NHS bodies and social enterprises and community interest companies delivering statutory social work originally had to pre-register for the 2019-20 ASYE this Friday (5 July). This involves estimating how many newly qualified social workers they will be putting through the scheme. Failure to meet the deadline would have meant foregoing any ASYE funding for the forthcoming year.

However, Skills for Care, which administers the ASYE, told Community Care last Thursday (27 July) that the deadline would be extended to 19 July because it had only just received confirmation from the Department of Health and Social Care of funding for the 2019-20 scheme.

Delay in confirming funding

“Considering the delay in confirmation of funding, we’ve taken the decision to extend the pre-registration phase by two weeks,” the workforce development body said on its website.

Skills for Care’s latest monthly social work briefing, issued last Tuesday (25 June) said it was “still awaiting confirmation from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) of grant funding support for the ASYE in adult services for 2019-20”. The same wording was used in the workforce development body’s 29 May monthly briefing, illustrating that the DHSC’s confirmation of funding for this year’s scheme has come late in the day.

In the pre-registration phase, employers are expected to identify the number of vacant posts they are specifically allocating to NQSWs or that may be filled by NQSWs in 2019-20. Small private and voluntary organisations have until 10 January 2020 to pre-register applications, though Skills for Care said they should try to do this as soon as possible to assist funding planning, and encouraged larger employers to help them with the process.

On 22 July, the funding portal in which employers can register specific NQSWs for the scheme will open. They will have until 31 January 2020 to register practitioners for the 2019-20 cohort.

Funding conditions

Funding per employer is based on the number of NQSWs starting the ASYE between 1 February 2019 and 31 January 2020, with at least £1,000 per newly qualified practitioner allocated to each organisation, and a cap of £2,000 for local authorities, NHS bodies and social enterprises/community interest companies delivering social work on behalf of local authorities. Small voluntary bodies have a cap of £3,000, reflecting their lack of infrastructure to manage the scheme.

To receive funding, employers must be part of an ASYE partnership. Partnerships moderate assessments of staff undergoing the ASYE to ensure they meet the requirements of the knowledge and skills statement for social workers in adult services and the professional capabilities framework.

Employers must also agree to submit evidence to the national moderation panel, which oversees the moderation and quality assurance process for the ASYE, to access funding. In its latest report, the panel said 86% of its requests for evidence had been complied with, which led Skills for Care to stress the importance of 100% compliance.

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