National Assembly for Wales / Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru

Evidence from Carers Trust Wales – RISC AI 03 / Tystiolaeth gan

Ymddiriedolaeth Gofalwyr Cymru– RISC AI 03

Note for Health and Social Care Committee

Registration of the Social Care workforce – reservations of Carers Trust re implementation.

Although Carers Trust Wales supports the registration of the social care workforce (and the professionalisation that would hopefully accompany this) our concerns are around implementation, and the potential impact on small, third sector services that registration may have.

Small, third sector services prioritise training and quality care delivery, investing any surplus into the organisation. The current financial climate and the current approach to commissioning have made it increasingly difficult for small, third sector services to remain viable as the ‘unit cost’ for an hour of care has been increasingly squeezed.

Our concerns over registration of the workforce is that the costs and administrative burdens of registration may have a disproportionate impact on these small, third sector, quality-orientated services. This is particularly worrying given the new duties in the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 to promote the use of social enterprises and the third sector. That is why we feel it is crucial that if registration of the wider workforce is introduced, that the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Bill also considers how it may improve and safeguard the commissioning process at the same time.

We also have some concerns over how best to safeguard staff, when there is a register of the workforce, from an organisation shifting responsibility for the quality of care onto individuals rather than the organisation as a whole