Backed by over £6m of Government funding, the National Skills Academy (NSA) for Social Care will also train some of the estimated future 1 million highly skilled care workers needed to care for our ageing population. It will equip our workforce with the skills they need for the jobs of the future and will raise the status of careers in social care.

Skills Minister Kevin Brennan said:

'Now, more than ever, we need to develop training that empowers a new generation to realise their ambitions, and to deliver the very best patient care. And we need employers to be involved at every step.  A new National Skills Academy for Social Care will help build a world-beating workforce that will improve standards and help shape rewarding careers: not just among new recruits but within the existing workforce.'

The Skills Academy will create a powerful partnership which allows employers to shape the training needed in the sector. It will direct learning support and training practice for 35,000 employers, with particular emphasis on small and medium-sized organisations.

Care Services Minister Phil Hope said:

'The National Skills Academy for Social Care is a unique and exciting development for the care sector. We need to ensure that we have a workforce in place that is well equipped to deliver high quality services driven by the people who use them. The employer-led Skills Academy will be the driving force to ensure this.

'The Skills Academy will also play a key role in implementing the Adult Social Care Workforce Strategy which we launched earlier this year. I want to boost the status of social care so that the sector can attract and retain the best and brightest candidates.' 

The Skills Academy aims to inspire those currently working in social care, and help them to develop, alongside attracting more people into a rewarding career in social care. It is the first public sector National Skills Academy and the 13th to join the network as an active of Skills Academy.

Supported by the Department of Health, the Skills Academy has already introduced a National Management Trainee Scheme to attract some of the executives of the future into the adult social care workforce. This scheme, with a pilot of 20 graduates is the first of its kind for social care. The one-year course is hosted by 20 employers across England and is designed for current graduates from a range of disciplines.

The NSA also plans to increase take-up of apprenticeships at both foundation and advanced levels for young people and adults and to drive up numbers of adults qualified to at least NVQ level 2 and level 3.