The City of Wolverhampton's Careers into Care partnership has successfully brought together care sector employers and training providers, including those in higher and further education, to raise awareness of the value of a career in care.
The Careers into Care project also includes ongoing initiatives designed to help fill vacancies in the care sector, encouraging people to apply for posts or take up apprenticeships. Around 500 people attended a jobs fair for the care sector earlier this year.
The project was presented to around 30 local and national adult social care organisations at the National Employers Meeting organised by CareTech on Tuesday (3 October, 2017).
Councillor Sandra Samuels OBE, the City of Wolverhampton Council's Cabinet Member for Adult Services, said: "We are working hard through our Careers into Care partnership to attract the best people to careers in the care sector in the City of Wolverhampton.
"We need more people in the workforce so that we can support the increasing numbers who may need care. Equally, everyone who buys care in the City, either through the council or directly, needs a workforce which is big enough and of the best quality possible.
"The chance to present our trail-blazing Careers into Care partnership to big employers, both locally and nationally, at this gathering was a great opportunity to showcase what we are doing here in the City of Wolverhampton, and to encourage others to follow our lead."
Councillor John Reynolds, Cabinet Member for City Economy, added: "The care sector makes an enormous contribution to the local economy - adult social care alone is worth £250 million a year and employs 7,700 people in the City of Wolverhampton - and that's why we are prioritising it.
"We have developed the Type=links;Linkid=8638;Title=Wolverhampton WorkBox;Target=_blank; to act as a 'front door' to information, advice and job opportunities in the City, including those within the care sector."
The National Employers Meeting focussed on a range of programmes aimed at ensuring a high quality social care workforce, and also discussed school based programmes to raise awareness of the opportunities to develop a career in care, and the growing apprenticeship programme.
Nigel Taylor, Group Head of Learning and Development at CareTech, said: "We have to work together to recruit really good people into care work. That's why we brought employers together to make sure they know about opportunities which can help them.
"We highlighted the City of Wolverhampton's approach in its Careers into Care partnership because we think other areas might learn from it."
- released: Wednesday 11 October, 2017