Everyone working in social care needs core skills – such as English, numeracy, digital and employability skills – to provide high quality care and support.
A lot of people often take these key abilities for granted but research suggests many adult social care staff may lack the core competencies they need.
We look at the five most common excuses employers give for failing to develop the core capabilities of their staff, and reveal why they should.
1 ‘All my staff have qualifications so they don’t need help with basic skills’
Just because staff have qualifications doesn’t mean they have the core skills they require to do their jobs well. A 2016 survey from the OECD (pdf) estimates 9 million adults in England have low literacy or numeracy skills. While qualifications might address the basics, it’s important workers learn the specific core capabilities needed for their role and know how to apply them in the workplace.
Most people have “spiky profiles” – which means they’re good at the things they do all the time, but not as good at the things they don’t do very often. So problems with staff whose core skills are underdeveloped might arise when responsibilities or roles change.
Even where staff do have sufficient core skills, developing them can improve their work performance significantly.
2 ‘I can’t afford the cost of training’
It’s estimated that the average annual cost to employers of staff with poor core skills could be as much as £166,000. With this in mind, it’s easy to see the return on investment on training.
Core skills training can be incorporated into day to day activities in the workplace, such as mentoring or group discussions. You can download core skills activities from Skills for Care’s website to use in the workplace.
3 ‘Shouldn’t this be sorted out by schools – it’s not my responsibility’
Recent research by Skills for Care on the state of the adult social care sector reports that the average age of a worker was 43 years old in 2016.
While many social care workers will have initially learned core skills at school, it’s likely that they will need refreshing, especially if they haven’t used them every day.
Employers are responsible for ensuring their staff have the right skills to perform in their role, and this includes core skills.
4 ‘People don’t really need to do much reading or writing in this job. They can certainly manage without being good at maths and computers’
Every job in social care involves using and understanding information, and communicating effectively. This means that each employee needs to have a good standard of English and numeracy skills to do their job effectively.
Social care workers are increasingly using assistive technology or computers in their roles, so it’s important they have digital skills.
Everyone needs core skills to help them in everyday life with things such as managing time, reading wage slips or understanding a bus timetable.
5 ‘I know some of my staff struggle but I don’t know how to bring the subject up without upsetting them’
It’s important that you approach core skills development in a positive but sensitive way.
Don’t take a negative approach and use phrases such as “lack competence”, “below standard” or “don’t measure up”. These can make people feel threatened, insecure or cause them to lack self-confidence.
Outline the benefits of developing core skills to all your staff and make sure they understand how they are expected to apply them.
How can I develop core skills?
Skills for Care has launched new learning activities to support managers to develop the core skills of their staff.
The activities support the assessment and development of English, numeracy and digital skills of those working on the frontline of social care. They also address employability skills such as teamwork and problem solving.
The new resources include:
- Bite sized learning activities
- “Developing core skills – a guide for managers”
- Assessment guidance outlining what skills managers should look out for
- “How to assess core skills as part of the Care Certificate”
- Checklists to evaluate learning around core skills.
Download the activities and supporting resources free from Skills for Care’s website.
Content on this page is produced and controlled by Skills for Care, sponsor of the Guardian Social Care Network leadership, learning and development hub
