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Chapter 5: Resources

Substantial resources are already available and come from a wide variety of sources. We need to make best use of existing resources as well as currently under used sources of both funding and other assistance that are available if we are to achieve a competent, confident and valued workforce. This will mean looking differently at how we currently use a range of resources and finding more effective ways of meeting the challenges.

There are many challenges facing the social service sector. These include how to make sure we have a qualified workforce to meet SSSC registration requirements as well as supporting the ongoing development of that workforce. Substantial resources are already available and come from a wide variety of sources. We need to make best use of existing resources as well as currently under used sources of both funding and other assistance that are available if we are to achieve a competent, confident and valued workforce. This will mean looking differently at how we currently use a range of resources and finding more effective ways of meeting the challenges.

Details of the funding streams available to train and educate the social service workforce were published by the SSSC in a report entitled, Funding for Training in August 2004. The SSSC is looking at ways to update the report through developing a website. This will ensure the information is kept up to date as new funding streams come along and allow providers and funders to add their information and advice.

Spotlight on Practice: esf funding: 'achieving the challenge'

'Achieving the Challenge' is an ESF Scottish Executive funded learning project aimed at SMEs in the private and voluntary sector. It targets social service workers required to register under Phase 1 and 2 of the SSSC's registration timetable. It is available in both Objective 1 and Objective 3 areas in Scotland and supports 900 beneficiaries to gain the required qualifications (primarily SVQs at level 2, 3 and 4) linked to Phase 1 and 2 of registration.

The Voluntary Sector Social Services Workforce Unit ³³ have recently compiled a useful document entitled 'Navigating the Funding Streams: A Guide to Acquiring Funding for Learning and Development in Voluntary Sector Social Services'. ³⁴

voluntary Sector

The Scottish Executive Voluntary Issues Unit annually produce A Guide for the Voluntary Sector to Scottish Executive Grants: The Scottish Executive Guide to Voluntary Sector Funding³⁵ which details various grant schemes including Section 9, Section 10 and Section 16b which are made available to the social service workforce.

• Section 9 Funding is made available to national voluntary organisations to train staff engaged in delivering social services in Scotland. This currently amounts to £1.6m per year.
• Section 10 provides core funding and assists voluntary organisations to develop social services and promote social welfare in Scotland.
• Section 16b provides funding for national voluntary organisations engaged in health initiatives in Scotland.
• The Voluntary Sector Development Fund ( VSDF) was set up less than three years ago to disburse funding for training to voluntary sector organisations which employ members of staff who will require to register with the Scottish Social Services Council ( SSSC). The funding distributed over the three year period from 2003/04 is £3m and currently supports staff required to register in Phase 1 of SSSC registration of the workforce.
• The Scottish Social Services Council also provides limited funding to assist smaller voluntary organisations to cover the cost of supporting SVQ registration. ³⁶

The Strategic Review of Voluntary Sector Funding was set up in 2003 and is managed jointly by the Scottish Executive, the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations ( SCVO) and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities ( CoSLA). It is due to report in March 2006. Issues emerging from the review include consideration of funding for the voluntary sector being made on an Executive wide basis, development of a single point of contact for voluntary sector funding, full cost recovery and the balance between project and core funding in relation to capacity building and sustainable development.

Scottish Ministers have signed up to the principles in A Review of the Scottish Executive's Policies to Promote the Social Economy³⁷ published in 2003 and The Scottish Compact³⁸ revised in February 2004. As a result of these agreements available funding is moving towards promoting shared outcomes and an investment culture.

Public Sector

Various funding streams are provided to the public sector to support the social service workforce. In addition to Grant Aided Expenditure ( GAE) there is:

• the Specific Grant Training fund which is ring fenced and allocated to local authority social services in Scotland. Current funding amounts to £16.5m over the three financial years from 2003/04 to 2005/06. The money is expected to be spent on staff working in the fields of community care, services to children and families, and social work management. Criminal justice staff are not included in this funding. Local authorities are required to produce an annual return indicating how they have used this funding including any support given to the voluntary and private sectors. Ministers are keen to see partnerships between local authorities and partner providers that look at workforce development needs;
• the Scottish Executive Health Department has provided additional funding for Community Care services including upskilling of the workforce. Details can be found of what this funding is intended to cover in the Local Government Finance Settlement to 2007-08: Community Care. ³⁹

Scottish Executive Projects

The Scottish Executive, across various Departments, plays a key role in assisting local authorities and independent sector employers to support the development of the social service workforce. It also funds specific projects to ensure that, as far as possible, support is available to all sectors of the social service workforce.

In addition to the Fast Track Graduate Trainee scheme and Incentive Scheme, both aimed at attracting individuals to become social workers, examples of specific schemes to support the training and development of the social service workforce are:

• six Centres for Excellence which have been developed to promote good practice in their particular fields. These centres offer value-added services to support the education and training of the social service workforce including: learning materials, advice on workforce and training strategies, evaluation of training, professional development and training courses tailored to the up-to-date needs of their specialist areas. Their links with policy, practice and user communities make them well placed to support organisations to ensure that the investment they make in learning opportunities is translated into effective practice. They can assist employers and individuals to meet their requirements for registration, workforce development and achieving best practice standards;
• two European Social Fund projects aimed at small and medium sized enterprises ( SMEs) in the private and voluntary sectors which were launched in 2005, one in the Scottish Enterprise area and the other in the Highlands and Islands Enterprise area. The total funding available is just over £3m of which nearly £1.5m is match funding from the Scottish Executive. The funding is to support staff gain qualifications required for registration with the SSSC. A third ESF project, which is a partnership between the Social Care Association, Barnardos, National Childrens' Homes Scotland, Quarriers, Vocational Portfolio Development and Cora Learning, made just over £1m available in 2004-05 and nearly £1.3m will be available in 2005-06 to fund training for SVQs;
• £18m is being disbursed over the three year period 2005/08 to support the development of the early years and childcare workforce. This money goes in the first instance to local authorities who, in conjunction with the local Childcare Partnership, distribute the money to local providers including the private and voluntary sectors. The money is expected to be spent on enabling staff members to obtain qualifications required for registration with the SSSC and to support employee development;
• £3m is being disbursed over the three year period 2005-2008 to support the development of the four regional Learning Networks across Scotland. The Learning Networks will support employee development and help create a learning culture. They will be made up of partnerships between local authority, voluntary and private sectors as well as training providers such as universities and colleges amongst others. They will provide a significant opportunity for all those with an interest in developing the social service workforce to come together and identify ways in which sharing of resources and expertise can usefully occur to support workforce development.

Funding for the training of social service staff in the criminal justice field is supported by the Scottish Executive Justice Department.

Spotlight on Practice: Partnership Working

£6m was allocated to local authorities for development of the early education and childcare workforce in 2004-05. Of the funds spent on accessing qualifications for registration and employee development, 44% was allocated to the voluntary sector and a further 26% was allocated to the private sector.

Other sources of funding

Other sources of funding exist that can be used to support workforce development. These include:

• Modern Apprenticeships are an option within the Skillseekers initiative and are based on a higher level of SVQ (level 3 or above) and the attainment of additional core skills. Funding levels are dependent on the age of the candidate and the cost of delivering the Modern Apprenticeship. The funding levels available for candidates in 2005/06 are as follows:

16-18 year olds: £6,500

19-24 year olds: £3,500

25 year olds and over: £3,000

Skillseekers and Modern Apprenticeship funding is provided directly to the organisation delivering the training. This organisation may or may not be the employer.

• The Skillseekers Programme⁴⁰ is a Government training initiative run by Local Enterprise Companies ( LECs) throughout Scotland. It encourages employers to train their workforce towards recognised workplace qualifications by helping them with the cost of training. Skillseekers funding assists individuals between 16-24 years of age to acquire relevant vocational skills. Typically in the social services sector funding is provided for workers to gain SVQ level 2. Funding is typically £3,000 for 16-18 year olds and £1,000 for 19-24 year olds.
• Funding can also be obtained from the European Social Fund for staff training.
• Communities Scotland administers Adult Literacy Funding, which is given to the 32 local authority-led adult literacy partnerships. The money is to improve the literacy and numeracy of everyone of working age in Scotland. In 2003/04 this amounted to £10.4m and has risen to £11.2m in 2005/06. Communities Scotland also administers the Futurebuilders Scotland Fund, an £18m investment in the social economy to run over financial years 2004-05 and 2005-06. Its purpose is to extend and strengthen the role of the social economy sector, the voluntary sector and charities in delivering public services.
• The Scottish Union Learning Fund ( SULF) has spent £2.4m over the three year period 2003/06. The fund aims to support the capacity of unions to develop lifelong learning amongst their membership.
• Charitable Trusts can be a source of funding to support staff training. Details of these can be obtained from the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations ( SCVO). ⁴¹ Some of the larger Trusts disburse sums in excess of £1m per year.
• The Big Lottery Fund ⁴² has a range of different types of funding programmes. One example is the development of a range of training programmnes in the childcare sector designed to raise awareness and improve workplace learning.

In addition to the above, other sources of funding of significance for the sector include Business Learning Accounts ( BLAs) and Independent Learning Accounts ( ILA). ILAs are aimed at those earning less than £15,000 per year and provide up to £200 to support training. BLAs are currently being piloted with the intention of these being made available across the whole of Scotland. Their aim is to promote workforce development in SMEs with organisations providing match funding. Both of these have considerable potential for the social service sector and for the workforce to address the challenges faced by organisations, particularly SMEs, in achieving a competent and confident workforce. ILAs are administered by ILA Scotland and BLAs by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

Organisations need to look to currently under used sources of funding (e.g SULF and Adult Literacy Funding) and new sources of funding such as BLAs and ILAs to support workforce development. Other issues include the need to look at whether existing diverse funding streams can be simplified and the need to ensure that the economic importance of the sector to Scotland's economy is better understood.

Employers must also look at their own budgets to identify the level of funding they currently make available for workforce development. Organisations need to understand the benefits of investing in developing their staff rather than seeing learning and development as a costly add on. Training costs are an integral part of high quality service delivery and need to be reflected in the balance sheet.

KEY MESSAGES

• Training and workforce development must be integral to service planning.
• Effective use must be made of existing and under used resources to support workforce development.

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