Written question WQ95884

Our social care workforce is a priority for Welsh Government, and we recognise the incredible role they play in supporting the social care sector. We are committed to raising the profile and status of the workforce through registration, improved pay and better terms and conditions, to address the recruitment challenges the sector face.

We continue to invest approx. £32 million in Social Care Wales (SCW) to support recruitment, retention and related improvements within the social care sector. Last year, SCW published the Workforce Strategy Delivery Plan 2024-27, which builds on the Health and Social Care Workforce Strategy and focuses on the social care workforce. This plan updates on progress made so far and outlines further development areas based on engagement with the sector.We are also continuing our commitment to fund the mental health and wellbeing support service, Canopi, for social care workers to access.

Through the Social Care Fair Work Forum, trade unions, employers and Welsh Government continue to work in social partnership on what steps to improve terms and conditions for social care. The Forum initially focussed on the implementation of our commitment to pay the Real Living Wage, which we are moving into our fourth year of delivery, with funding for 2025-26 being included with the Local Authorities RSG allocation and Health Board budgets. In addition, it has driven and supported work to develop a draft Pay and Progression Framework. The Forum has also led the establishment of the Social Care Workforce Partnership, the first of its kind in the UK, which will develop HR policies based on models of best practice with the aim of bringing consistency to terms and conditions across the sector.

Recognising the important role local authorities play in delivering core social services and understanding their local needs, Welsh Government provides £45 million to the sector through the Workforce and Sustainable Social Services grant. Local authorities can maximise this funding for workforce development to meet their own needs, piloting different ways of working for interventions aimed at supporting the social care workforce.

We are committed to the provision of training and development for the sector and provide funding through SCW to deliver a number of training and development programmes, including the social worker bursary, contributing to costs incurred to individuals training to be social workers in Wales, and the SCW Workforce Development Programme (SCWWDP). The SCWWDP funding provides £7 million annually for the sector, which is match funded by an additional £3 million from local authorities, providing training opportunities to social care workers in their communities in both the voluntary and independent sectors.

We continue to invest in Social Care Wales recruitment campaign, WeCare.Wales which promotes the variety of roles available in Social Care