Introduction and welcome
As the people and communities we serve, and the context in which we work continue to evolve, so too must our approach to building, sustaining and supporting a skilled, compassionate, and resilient workforce.
The workforce is the heart and soul of adult social care, and their dedication, expertise, and commitment are essential in ensuring the well-being and dignity of those we serve.
Many approaches over many decades have benefited our health and wellbeing and given us opportunities as individuals, within communities, and as a society.
These positive outcomes bring different challenges. Over the next 15 years the number of people aged 85 and over will increase by 60% in Devon.
We’re already ahead of most areas in terms of the age of our population, but this growth will bring unprecedented challenges that we must be ready for.
Professor Chris Whitty, as Chief Medical Officer, in his annual report 2023, (and Figure 1 below) drew attention to the challenge of a more aging population facing rural and coastal areas, and the first of twelve challenges set out in the Devon Joint Forward Plan is an ageing and growing population, living more years in poor health.
Figure 1: Map of England showing the projected rise in the percentage of the population aged 75 years and over
We’re seeing changes within the younger adults population too. Life-saving and life giving medical advances mean more children and young people are living much longer into adulthood and into old age with complex needs requiring complex and intense care and support from more people. And with a positive focus on mental health, more people are seeking the help and support they need.
Our workforce is aging too, and it is a key challenge to ensure we can bring people into adult social care who are thinking about and taking their first steps into the workplace. We need to offer careers and a place where people can see a long-term future for themselves.
We know a specific south west challenge in the coming years will be that local areas will not have sufficient younger populations to meet the care needs of their ageing populations.
We know that our internal workforce is unlikely to grow significantly given the challenges we face, including the financial pressures and constraints across all public organisations.
This means we will need to focus on ensuring the right people, with the right skills and tools, are in the right place. We need to make sure we’re there when people need us and working in a way that builds individual and community resilience.
Technology is always advancing, and we will need to ensure we are making the most of what is available. Technology and AI has the ability to free staff to do the things they came into adult social care to do, and it can also make a positive difference to people’s lives.
The workforce needs to be confident and expert in understanding and showcasing the possibilities. We need to take staff and the people we work with on that journey as our commitment to be a learning organisation. This will require a cultural shift.
In developing this adult social care workforce vision, we embark on a journey, alongside the people we serve, their families and our partners, to empower and support our workforce to meet the challenges and opportunities we face now and in the future.
Our vision is rooted in the recognition that our workforce is diverse, with a wide range of skills, experiences, and backgrounds, each contributing to the richness of our service delivery.
We will provide and publish an annual update on our progress towards achieving our workforce vision and the impact that we are having.
Tandra Forster, Director of Integrated Adult Social Care
Purpose and scope
This document sets out our adult social care challenges and how they impact upon the workforce.
It also sets out our ambition in terms of how we plan to respond to those challenges, what we want to achieve and what we need from an adult social care workforce now and in the future.
It will be the document that connects and aligns our delivery plans and influences the size, shape and actions of the whole workforce.
The scope of this vision is the entire adult social care workforce:
- Local Authority adult social care.
- The independent and private sector (including personal assistants).
- NHS staff working in jointly funded roles within the Local Authority.
- Staff in the voluntary and community sector supporting those with social care needs, (including volunteers).
- Unpaid carers and families.
Our vision for the ASC workforce
- Everyone in every role feels valued, motivated and committed, and people are at the heart of everything we do.
- Everyone in every role lives ‘our values’ and has the support and the tools to do what they came into adult social care to do.
- Everyone in every role delivers adult social care as a springboard to what they want to achieve.
- Our practice continually evolves, and we embrace the new and the innovative.
- Everyone can see a career pathway and opportunities to develop, grow and advance.
- The adult social care workforce is more diverse, and people aspire to work and remain in it because it is inclusive and rewarding, and they can see the difference they can make.
- People can access quality and safe care and support because there is a sufficient and sustainable workforce.
National and local drivers
National drivers
This vision is informed and shaped primarily by our responsibilities within The Care Act 2014 and other related legislation.
The People at the Heart of Care white paper, published in December 2021, set out a 10-year vision for adult social care, and is based around three key objectives:
- People have choice, control and support to live independent lives.
- People can access outstanding quality and tailored care and support.
- People find adult social care fair and accessible.
The on-going delivery of this vision will be informed by the Skills for Care annual ‘State of the Adult Social Care Sector and Workforce in England’ report.
Local drivers
‘People First’ Our People Strategy 2023 to 2025
In 2023 Devon County Council adopted the ‘People First’ Our People Strategy 2023 – 2025. People First represents a renewed focus on people and culture for Devon County Council, and marks a shift towards being more values based, purpose driven, and people-centred.
People First aims to outline how Devon County Council wants all its people and those who work with it to understand and embody the values of care and kindness, along with responsibilities to strive for better outcomes and good value for the people of Devon.
It shapes how Devon County Council will continue to get and keep the skilled and talented people needed to deliver for Devon and ensure that the Council is fit for the future.
Integrated Adult Social Care Practice Values
In 2024 we launched our co-produced Integrated Adult Social Care Practice Values, which form a core part of how Devon County Council’s Integrated Adult Social Care connects with the workforce and the people of Devon.
Our Practice Values are at the heart of everything we do, and they complement overarching principles and behaviours of the Devon County Council People First Strategy.
Promoting Independence Policy
Our Promoting Independence Policy, has been embedded for many years. We have adopted the Social Care Futures vision which has also been endorsed by TLAP. We deliver our promoting independence policy through three core strategies:
- Living Well in Devon focuses on people of working age with a learning disability, autistic people, those with mental health needs and/or physical or sensory disabilities and aims to maximise their capacity for independent living.
- Ageing Well in Devon focuses on the needs of people as they get older to sustain their capacity, including interventions that prevent, delay and reduce care needs.
- Caring Well in Devon focuses on unpaid carers who look after a partner, family member, or friend.
We will continually seek and explore opportunities to progress and evolve our approach to the adult social care workforce.
What we are going to do
Our internal workforce
- We will develop a workforce plan for our internal staff.
- We will be clear on our productivity requirements and that will inform our plans for the future shape, size and skills mix of our internal workforce.
- We will be clear on the type and number of roles we need and where they need to be across Devon.
- We will have a values-based recruitment plan, with competitive terms and conditions of employment. As much as possible our workforce will be drawn from the local population and not reliant on agency staff.
- We will ensure everyone has access to career development with appropriate learning and development including, accessing national and regional funding and training opportunities. We recognise that it can challenge team capacity when learning opportunities are being taken, and even prevent them from being taken.
- We will continue to encourage and offer apprenticeships, ensuring each and every apprentice who reaches the required standard can continue their employment in IASC when they qualify.
- We will ensure all staff in all teams have the opportunity to come together to learn, train and share their experiences to support their specific roles.
- We will ensure everyone has access to appropriate training and awareness on local government finances, budget monitoring, management and processes.
- We will develop a recognition and reward approach to celebrate staff achievements.
- We will develop a plan to ensure the workforce is digitally and technology literate and their skill and expertise are contemporary and always developing.
- We will ensure staff are connected to and understand what resources and opportunities are available to people in local communities.
Working with independent providers (including personal assistants)
- We will be clear on our promoting independence approach, and that will shape our work with the independent provider market in delivering our duties.
- We will develop a shared understanding of what a strengths-based approach means and looks like.
- We will be clear, through our Market Position Statement, what a sufficient care market looks like across Devon, and the opportunities that exist
- We will be clear on our quality expectations and be explicit on our role in supporting providers to meet these expectations.
- We will be clear on how we support independent providers to recruit and retain a high quality and skilled workforce, providing and signposting to tools and training such as safeguarding, to help them with the responsibilities they have.
NHS staff working in jointly funded roles within the local authority
- We will ensure that staff have the skills, knowledge and tools to work together in the ways that support the best outcomes for the people we collectively serve.
- We will ensure a culture is embedded across health and social care that means ideas, assets, skills and knowledge are shared, and staff feel part of a wider collective team.
- We will ensure staff are supported to understand the legal frameworks we work to, what our shared duties are and how we collectively deliver them.
Staff in the voluntary and community sector supporting those with social care needs (including volunteers)
- We will work in partnership to create more opportunities for the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) workforce to shape our approach and help to build a more inclusive, responsive, and person-centred adult social care system that meets the diverse needs of individuals and communities.
- We will put the VCSE workforce at the heart of our approach to prevention, building community resilience, reducing loneliness and isolation and promoting independence.
- We will work with volunteers to ensure opportunities to develop their skills are available to them.
Unpaid carers and families
- Our Caring Well Strategy states that our vision for carers is to ‘have personalised care and support that focuses on strengths and outcomes you want to achieve and gives you choice and control’. This means that:
- We will focus on promoting the resilience and wellbeing of carers, recognising that the caring role can bring challenges as well as being rewarding, and that Carers can experience detriments to health and wellbeing as a direct result of caring.
- We will support carers in achieving the greatest possible independence and wellbeing for the people for whom they care.
- We will focus on supportingpeople and their carers early with targeted information and advice, and community, employment and reablement services, that prevent or delay the need for longer term care.
- We will work in partnership to support people to be active in their community where they wish to do so, to connect with others and to stay well. We will recognise and support the growing contribution and needs of voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations to improving the health and wellbeing of people and achieving different solutions, alongside the continuing development of services.
Where we are now
We are not starting from a blank sheet of paper in terms of what staff are saying are the workforce priorities across the adult social care, or in terms of developing the programmes and the activities working towards realising our vision.
The DCC people survey, our Ddrectorate leadership survey, and other surveys such as the LGA health check, as well as the outcome and subsequent improvement plan from the LGA Peer Challenge, and the Race Equality Improvement Programme have informed and shaped activity and progress.
Our internal workforce
- We have developed and are delivering Leading and Managing Effective Workflows programme, reinvigorated our in-person staff learning through ‘Learning together’ to ensure staff are clear on expectations and they are supported.
- We have reshaped and restructured parts of our operational teams to support them to be more impactful.
- We have launched the Big Thank You to enable staff to celebrate each other and the work they are doing.
- We have developed a programme of staff conferences and improved senior leadership visibility and access to support our developing culture and togetherness.
- We have been a leading partner in the Council’s understanding of how artificial intelligence can support our work and make us more efficient.
Working with independent providers (including personal assistants)
- We continue to publish our annual Market Position Statement.
- We have restructured our commissioning teams around the independent provider market to be more agile and impactful.
- We have recently updated our Provider Quality Support Policy, refining and streamlining our approach to ensure maximum impact.
- We have retendered the Community Equipment Service with an increased focus on TECS.
NHS staff working in jointly funded roles within the Local Authority
- We have reviewed and refreshed some of the joint working arrangements we have to ensure they work for the people we collectively serve.
- We continue to have joint leadership roles across Integrated Adult Social Care and NHS organisations locally.
- We have started the procurement of a new care management system that will better support the access and sharing of data to support staff and improve the experience and outcomes of the people we serve.
Staff in the voluntary and community sector supporting those with social care needs (including volunteers)
- Our Community Health and Social Care Teams across every coastal and market town continue to be connected to local voluntary and community organisations.
- Through our 3 Conversations Model we empower people to connect with their local community services and resources.
- We continue to work with other statutory organisations in partnerships with the VCSE.
- Through our involvement arrangements we ensure that we listen to and are influenced by the experience of those in the VCSE and the people that they interactive with and support.
Unpaid carers and families
- Our Caring Well Strategy describes our vison for carers, our aims and approach.
- Carers are at the heart of our work and are involved at all stages of planning and delivering care.
- We continue to make sure that carers views and experiences are heard and influence and they get the support they need to continue their caring roles.
How we will monitor and report progress
We will provide and publish an annual update on our progress towards achieving our workforce vision and the impact that we are having.
Where we need to make changes to our approach, we will be clear about them, and we will ensure that we reflect any emerging and evolving national directions and requirements.
Appendix 1
