Skills for Care Customer Satisfaction Survey

Transcription

1 Skills for Care Customer Satisfaction Survey 2015

2 Skills for Care Published by Skills for Care, West Gate, 6 Grace Street, Leeds LS1 2RP Skills for Care 2015 Copies of this work may be made for non-commercial distribution to aid social care workforce development. Any other copying requires the permission of Skills for Care. Skills for Care is the employer-led strategic body for workforce development in social care for adults in England. It is part of the sector skills council, Skills for Care and Development. This work was researched and compiled by Davina Figgett, Skills for Care ii

3 Table of contents Table of contents... iii Executive summary... iv 1. Introduction Overall views on Skills for Care Satisfaction with Skills for Care Suggested improvements to Skills for Care products and services The impact of Skills for Care Communication from and with Skills for Care Communication channels enews Events Contact with Skills for Care The National Skills Academy The National Skills Academy (NSA) Conclusions and next steps Appendix A Respondent profile iii

4 Executive summary Skills for Care is the employer-led workforce development body for adult social care in England. We regularly collect feedback from our customers to ensure that we understand how the employers in our sector think we have performed. This year in relation to your satisfaction with Skills for Care: We asked You told us We will How do you rate your overall satisfaction with Skills for Care services? How likely are you to recommend Skills for Care to your peers / colleagues? How have you found specific Skills for Care services? 85% of you were satisfied with Skills for Care services. 88% of you would recommend Skills for Care to others. You rate Skills for Care downloadable resources, events, telephone or advice, Area Officer 2 (or other staff member) visits and paid for resources particularly highly. Continue to strive to maintain, and where possible improve, the customer service experience across all service areas. To this end we have published our Customer Charter 1 which sets out what you can expect when you engage with Skills for Care or use our products and services Throughout this report reference is made to Area Officers as this was the job title in use when this survey was issued. However, since then Skills for Care has renamed these posts Locality Managers.

5 This year in relation to potential improvements to Skills for Care: We asked You told us We will What improvements would you suggest? In an ideal world, what else could Skills for Care offer the sector? You made suggestions relating to our resources, events, training and support, the website, communicating with us and the National Minimum Data Set for Social Care (NMDS-SC). You suggested that we consider our training offer, making our resources more specific, holding more locally based events and providing more advice and support on recruitment and retention related issues. You would also like to see Skills for Care take on a more campaigning role on behalf of the sector. Continue to explore opportunities to host a diverse range of events and to provide appropriate resources through our website, publications, Information Service and Area Officers to support your work. Review our website to ensure that it s easy to navigate and meets your needs. Continue to provide the National Minimum Dataset for Social Care (NMDS-SC) which provides the sector with authoritative information on the social care workforce. Continue to focus on working with key sector partners including the Department of Health, government ministers and trade organisations to represent the views of employers in any appropriate forums. v

6 This year in relation to the impact of Skills for Care: We asked You told us We will Does Skills for Care represent and communicate the views of the adult social care sector? 80% of you agree that Skills for Care represents the views of the adult social care sector. Continue to consult with you through a range of methods to ensure that we have a good understanding of the needs of the sector. Does Skills for Care positively influence practice in the social care sector? 79% of you agree that Skills for Care has a positive influence in the sector. Continue to produce resources to aid you in improving practice amongst your workforce. Does Skills for Care contribute towards the research evidence base in social care? 75% of you agree that Skills for Care contributes to the research evidence base in the sector. Continue to conduct and collate research evidence for you to use to underpin your decision making. This includes maintaining the Research Knowledge Base 3. Has Skills for Care raised the profile of and improved perceptions of the adult social care sector? 73% of you agree that we have raised the profile of / improved perceptions of the adult social care sector. Continue to participate in networks, forums and discussions to raise the profile and improve the perception of the sector. Does Skills for Care demonstrate leadership on issues relating to the social care workforce? 72% of you agree that Skills for Care demonstrates leadership on questions relating to the social care workforce. Continue to develop our resources and efforts in the area of leadership and management for all parts of the sector. 3 vi

7 This year in relation to communication with Skills for Care: We asked You told us We will Which Skills for Care communications channels do you access? Which Skills for Care communication channels do you value? You most frequently access the Skills for Care website, enews and our publications. The channels that you value most are the Area Officers, the Skills for Care website, local and national events and the National Skills Academy website. Continue to produce and review a range of resources to help you develop and maintain a well trained workforce. What would you like to see more of in Skills for Care s enews? You would like more news / updates, reallife examples of good practice, business development and education / training opportunities in enews. Use your suggestions to inform the future content of our enews. How do you feel about Skills for Care events? You like attending small events but also networking at large events. You like to attend events that cover a range of topics. Continue to provide a range of different types of events to cater to the widest possible range of needs. What prevents you from attending Skills for Care events? A lack of resources and distance to travel are your biggest barriers to attending events. vii

8 This year in relation to the National Skills Academy: We asked You told us We will Were you aware that Skills for Care and the National Skills Academy had merged in June 2014? What is your experience of the main NSA offers? 65% of you were aware that the merger had taken place. 57% of you were aware of the NSA Leadership programme, 56% were aware of the Registered Managers Support Programme and 55% of you were aware of the Registered Managers Network. Continue to support Registered Managers and employers through our Membership offer. Revise and re-launch the endorsement framework. Continue to deliver our Leadership and Management Programmes. Consult with you to identify your needs in relation to our leadership and management offer. viii

9 Almost 350 employers and others responded to our survey. We would like to thank you all for taking part and for supporting Skills for Care as the employer-led workforce development body for the adult social care sector.

10 1. Introduction Skills for Care is the employer-led workforce development body for adult social care in England. We conduct a regular customer satisfaction survey so that the employers in our sector can tell us how they think we have performed. In February 2015, we invited everyone who receives our e-newsletter (c. 20,000 people) to respond to an online customer satisfaction survey. A reminder about the survey was included in the March edition. We also promoted the survey through an e-shot to people who had previously expressed an interest in Skills for Care research (c.2,000 people). Additionally we included details about the survey in our e-signatures and we tweeted about it to our c.9,500 followers. We also included paper copies of the survey in Care magazine (c.32,000 copies) and in the delegate packs at the Skills for Care national conference (c. 400 copies). The survey ran from 26 February to 24 April 2015 and received 343 unique responses. This included almost 175 employers/managers as well as other interested parties such as learning providers, social care workers, stakeholders and those employed in workforce development roles. Details of the respondents can be found in the appendix. 1

11 2. Overall views on Skills for Care Key findings 85% of you are satisfied with Skills for Care services. 88% of you would recommend Skills for Care to others. A high proportion of you rated the Skills for Care services that you have used as excellent or good across the board, giving the highest scores to our web resources, events and advice provided via telephone or . Visits from Area Officers or other staff members were rated as excellent by more of you than any of our other products and services. These results are very similar to those from the 2012 and 2014 surveys, suggesting that we are maintaining a consistent level of service. You suggested that we could do more to help you navigate and use our myriad of resources and consider how they could be tailored to specific audiences. You told us that you like local events because scarce resources can make travel difficult (although elsewhere in the survey you told us that larger, national events also have their place). More locally-based training would also be useful to some of you. Your comments and suggestions are being considered by the Corporate Leadership Team. At least 60% of you agree that we fulfil each of our aspirations: we represent and communicate the views of the adult social care sector, are responsive to employer s needs, have raised the profile and improved perceptions of the adult social care sector, has a positive influence on local or national policy on social care, positively influences practice in the social care sector, contributes towards the research evidence base in social care, demonstrates leadership on issues relating to the social care workforce, and bring partners together to find solution to problems. We are reassured by this as it illustrates that we are maintaining a consistent presence within the sector, but take on board the fact that some of you feel we need to try harder in some respects. 2

12 2.1 Satisfaction with Skills for Care We asked you to rate your overall satisfaction with Skills for Care, and your views on the specific Skills for Care services that you have accessed in the last year: 42% of you are very satisfied and 43% of you are satisfied with Skills for Care s services overall (see Chart 1) 58% of you are very likely and 30% of you are fairly likely to recommend Skills for Care to others (see Chart 2) A high number of you rated the Skills for Care services that you have used as excellent or good across the board (see Chart 3) Chart 1 - How do you rate your overall satisfaction with Skills for Care services? N=342 Levels of satisfaction have remained constant since 2012 when the first Customer Satisfaction Survey was conducted. 3

13 Chart 2 - How likely are you to recommend Skills for Care to your peers / colleagues? N=341 The majority of you said that you would recommend Skills for Care to others. This is consistent with the results of the 2014 survey. Tables 1 and 2 (below) summarise the reasons you gave for either recommending or not recommending Skills for Care to your peers or colleagues. You praised our resources for being high quality, relevant, reliable and current, the quality of the support and advice we offer, the professional, friendly attitude of our staff and the quality of our training and events. You also appreciate how our communications keep you up-to-date with what s happening in the adult social care sector. A small number of you suggested that we continue to review the language we use in our resources to ensure it is user friendly and accessible to all aspects of care and all types of provider (for example, you noted that it can be difficult for small providers to keep upto-date) and that we listen to what the sector wants/needs when developing new resources to ensure we are reflecting what is happening at grass roots level. 4

14 Table 1 Thematic summary of comments made by those who are very or fairly likely to recommend Skills for Care (comments made by 131 respondents) Negative comments Neutral comments Positive comments Sometimes the language used in the resources isn t user friendly (x2) Difficult for small employers to keep up with developments Sometimes Skills for Care is a bit slow off the mark in providing resources Getting funding from Skills for Care can be challenging Skills for Care should ensure it finds out what resources the sector wants / needs Information for people who employ personal assistants is still inconsistent Health care and ageing need to be higher up the agenda Training materials needed on homelessness and substance misuse Council cuts have resulted in less local involvement I don t know enough about it High quality resources relevant, reliable, up-todate, easy to access (x62) Great support service guidance, advice (x26) Professional staff friendly, knowledgeable (x24) High quality training materials / sessions / events (x14) Regular communication keeps us up-to-date (x8) Good leaders / representatives of the sector (x4) The go to organisation for information on social care (x4) Great partnership working / networks (x3) Helps develop staff and services (x3) Excellent support for individual employers (x2) 5

15 Table 2 Thematic summary of comments made by those who are fairly or very unlikely to recommend Skills for Care (comments made by 23 respondents) Negative comments Neutral comments Positive comments Staff unable to answer my specific queries (x2) Resources need to focus on all aspects of care and all types of provider (x2) Registration for Bank of Associates too slow Poor experience of events Difficulty in locating resources on the website Poor communication via Too bureaucratic Need to be more in touch with grass roots situation Difficult to break into local networks Need to take a clear, public stance in political situations (i.e. Winterbourne) Don t know enough about it (x4) Currently receiving information on Apprenticeships Would like information about future changes (internal and external) asap Good source of (online) information (x3) The right people with the right knowledge Care Act workshop was very positive Good networks 6

16 Chart 3 Views on Skills for Care services used Notes: excludes respondents who did not use a service. You rate Skills for Care s web resources particularly highly 46% of you feel these are good and 47% that they are excellent (a 93% positive response in total). You also commend Skills for Care events 50% of you rate these as good and 42% as excellent (a 92% positive response in total). You are satisfied with the advice you receive when calling or ing Skills for Care - 44% rated the experience as good and 43% as excellent (an 87% positive response in total). When you have been visited by a Skills for Care Area Officer or other member of staff, you rate this particularly highly 30% of you describe such visits as good and 51% as excellent (an 81% positive response in total). You are satisfied with publications purchased from Skills for Care 41% rate these as good and 35% as excellent (a 76% positive response in total). 7

17 Your responses in 2014 and 2012 were very similar there were no statistically significant changes to report. 93 of you took the opportunity to add further, general comments on Skills for Care. 72 of these were positive, 11 of you said something that could be classed as neutral and 10 of you said something negative. The positive comments you made range from an overall endorsement of the services we provide to specific mentions for area based staff and our resources: I find Skills for Care an invaluable resource and am grateful it exists. Response time to queries is excellent and current information sent through locality manager is spot on. Please keep up the good work. Skills for Care offers invaluable support ensuring that we can move on [and] be confident in what we do and provide. Skills for Care provides all the information I need to keep me abreast with recruitment, retention, staff development and general trends of the sector. [Skills for Care are] very pro-active and involved on all levels. What a sector skills council should be. 8

18 2.2 Suggested improvements to Skills for Care products and services When asked if you have any suggestions to improve our current services, 50 of you said that there was nothing to improve and 6 of you couldn t think of anything that could be improved. 85 of you made suggestions including: resources (25 comments made) you said that we have so many resources that it can be tricky to navigate them and once you have located the resources you need you are not always sure how to use them. A couple of you feel that our resources are not tailored enough to your type of organisation. The timeliness of our resources was an issue for some of you. One person suggested that we produce short video clips that you can use in staff inductions and training sessions events (11 comments made) you said that our events should be more local and more targeted. One person suggested that it would be useful if we provided a list of delegates attending events training and support (10 comments made) you are looking for more (cheaper and local) courses. One person suggested that small companies could team up with others locally to access training in a more cost effective way. Another suggested that Skills for Care consult with different types of employer to establish what their specific needs are the website (6 comments made) you said that you are still having issues with navigating the website communication (6 comments made) there were two elements to your comments: being able to reach staff via telephone at a time that suits you and receiving more tailored communications from us. One person also suggested that we look at having an online chat room where real time discussions could be had around troubling issues the National Minimum Data Set for Social Care (4 comments made) you said that the NMDS-SC could be more user-friendly, simpler to complete and more readily adapted to reflect the changing workforce. One person requested reports on average pay, terms and conditions of workers 9

19 About the National Minimum Data Set for Social Care (NMDS-SC) The NMDS-SC is an online workforce data collection system for the social care sector. It is the leading source of robust workforce intelligence for adult social care. The NMDS- SC has been collecting information about social care providers and their staff since In July 2015 the NMDS-SC had 25,000 employers and 740,000 individual worker records. This included 55% of CQC regulated employers and all 152 statutory local authority services. Social care employers / providers use the NMDS-SC to help ensure their information better supports businesses and workforce planning. They register, maintain and access their business information through their online account and can use it to track their workforce information with personalised reports and dashboards. For more information please see the NMDS-SC e-guide: Some of you made general suggestions for areas that Skills for Care services should consider supporting in the future. These include safeguarding, effective communication, care of older people, children s providers and free resources for those employing personal assistants. One respondent also suggested that Skills for Care should take on a more campaigning role, championing the recognition of managers and senior staff in the sector. Two people criticised Skills for Care for not being employer-led enough and for its staff being too removed from front line work. We asked whether, in an ideal world, Skills for Care could offer any additional services to the sector. 33 of you said that there was nothing you could think of and 3 of you said you didn t know what else we could provide. 79 of you made suggestions, including: training (39 comments made) you are keen to see more training resources related to the changing social care landscape, as well as local training resources and in-house consultancy resources (8 comments made) you would like specific resources relating to the Care Certificate, domiciliary care, individual employers and for specific sectors (i.e. homecare). One person requested that services and advice be mapped to the ever changing legislative and regulatory framework 10

20 events (8 comments made) you reiterated the need for more locally based events, particularly in this era of ever reducing budgets. One person suggested we use video conferencing to save on travel costs campaigning (7 comments made) you are keen for us to undertake more campaigning / awareness raising on behalf of the sector. For some of you this was about highlighting positive elements of the sector to the general public to counter balance some of the negative media coverage experienced in recent times, whilst for others it was to represent the sector in discussions with the government employment issues (5 comments made) you would like more advice and support in relation to recruitment and retention and employment issues generally 11

21 2.3 The impact of Skills for Care We asked what you feel the impact of Skills for Care is on adult social care workforce development. Four-fifths of you feel that Skills for Care represents and communicates the views of the sector and also feel that we positively influences practice in the adult social care sector. Three-quarters of you agree that we are contributing towards the research evidence base in the sector and that we have raised the profile and improved perceptions of the sector (see Chart 4a). Seven in ten of you agree that Skills for care demonstrates leadership on issues relating to the social care workforce and that we are responsive to employer needs. Over twothirds of you feel that we influence local and/or national policy on social care and threefifths of you feel that Skills for Care brings partners together to find solutions to problems (see Chart 4b). Chart 4a - To what extent do you agree with the following statements? Skills for Care 12

22 Chart 4b - To what extent do you agree with the following statements? Skills for Care Your responses in 2014 were very similar there were no statistically significant changes this year. 13

23 What happens next? We value your feedback and therefore we will: strive to identify opportunities to host a diverse range of events delivered in the best possible way for the target audience, looking at location, programme, frequency and partnership delivery continue to support employers through our networks of area staff. Although in the current climate we are unable to expand our team of Area Officers, we will continue to support employers through face to face visits where resources allow, our area and local networks and a wide range of communication channels with the aim that we are as accessible to as many employers as possible continue to provide resources on both a free (where possible) and paid-for basis, reviewing and refreshing resources to keep them up to date and relevant and provide examples for how they can be used continue to provide support through the Information Service, including further focus towards consistency and the highest standards of customer service. We will continue to raise awareness of Skills for Care products, provide guidance about workforce requirements for CQC registered organisations and help employers to understand and make the most of our offer continue to distribute and evaluate the Workforce Development Fund (WDF); working with the Department for Health to target the investment to maximise its impact, whilst evaluating and where necessary revising the process of distribution and application so it is as effective as it can be undertake user experience testing of our websites to make sure they fulfil your needs and are easy to navigate continue to provide the National Minimum Dataset for Adult Social Care (NMDS- SC) as the authoritative source of information on the adult social care workforce in England, keeping it relevant to changes in the sector via the Data User Group continue to publish adult social care data via dashboards and workforce intelligence publications 14

24 3. Communication from and with Skills for Care Key findings A wide range of Skills for Care s communication channels are important to you. The most valued are our website, our events, our enews and our Area Officers. Use and value of social media has significantly increased since the 2014 survey, but is still the least used of all channels. We will continue to disseminate information to you via a range of channels. Four-fifths of you receive enews. You would like it to contain more news/updates and real-life examples of good practice. Your comments and suggestions will be considered by our Marketing team. You like the networking opportunities afforded by larger events and are prepared to travel for the right ones but you also like smaller, more focussed events. We are pleased to learn that we can meet your needs by offering different types of events. Your main reasons for contacting us in the past year were in relation to the care Certificate, the National Minimum Data Set for Social Care (NMDS-SC), standards, learning and qualifications, the Care Act and the Social Care Commitment. 15

25 3.1 Communication channels We asked you which channels of communication you access to keep you up-to-date with Skills for Care activities, funding opportunities and news (see Chart 5). You told us that: a wide range of Skills for Care s communication channels are important to you with the exception of social media, at least two-fifths of you access each channel the channels you most frequently access are the Skills for Care website, our enews and our publications local events, Care magazine and the National Skills Academy are accessed by at least half of you two-fifths of you access Skills for Care s social media channels and a quarter of you value this method of communication. This is a large increase on the 2014 survey when one in seven of you said you accessed our social media channels and less than one in ten said you valued this method of communication Chart 5 - In keeping you up to date with Skills for Care activities, funding opportunities and news, which communication channels do you access? 16

26 When asked which of the communications you valued the most the Skills for Care website came out on top (38%), followed by our events (19%), our enews (15%) and our Area Officers (14%). Here are a few of the things that you said you like about our website: It is a valuable source of information. It usually answers all my questions It s easy to access and provides a wealth of useful resources and information. The information is up to date, supportive, relates to the care sector and training. It identifies difficulties in the industry and provides resources to support where possible. Excellent learning resources and guidance on policy/national strategies. Here are some of the things that you said you like about our events: Accessing local events is very useful to learn about new initiatives and regulations. Local events tick a lot of boxes for me as a wheelchair user and requiring a facilitator for communication I prefer a one-to-one setting. They are also excellent arenas for networking. They give the opportunity for interaction ensuring that everything is understood clearly. It also provides time for problem and logistic solving. Local events are a great way of networking and gaining information / knowledge which otherwise will not be possible. 17

27 Here are some of the things that you said you like about our enews: It s a regular source of up-to-date and detailed information which is valuable to me in terms of doing my job, knowing what opportunities are coming up and making me aware of market sector changes. It s very useful and keeps me up to date with things that are happening in the sector which I can pass on to colleagues and students. enews and ebulletins are excellent as they arrive directly in my in box without me having to search. It keeps me abreast of change, quick and easy. The content is very helpful when pulled together in one place. I often use/encourage use to the links. Here are some of the things that you said you like about our Area Officers: She always answers my questions. She has a 'can do' attitude and is always prepared to go the extra mile. [They are] very knowledgeable and accessible. The knowledge provided and the reassurance and motivation that we need. She is superb at getting information out, replying to s quickly, encouraging attendance at events, giving presentations and generally being an all-round great ambassador for Skills for Care. 18

28 3.2 enews Four-fifths (79%) of you currently receive our fortnightly enews and three-quarters of you share your enews with colleagues (see Chart 6). Chart 6 Do you usually share your enews with other people? N=261 We asked what you would like to see more of in enews. 45 of you made suggestions that we have grouped into themes (see Chart 7). Chart 7 What would you like to see more of in enews? 19

29 3.3 Events We asked for your views on any Skills for Care events that you have attended. Threequarters of you told us that you are willing to travel beyond your region to attend the right event. Seven in ten of you like to network at large events but a similar number of you said that you prefer small, focussed events. Two-thirds of you like events that cover a range of topics (see Chart 8). Chart 8 - Thinking about any Skills for Care events you've attended, how much do you agree or disagree with the following statements? Over two-fifths of you are prevented from attending Skills for Care events because of a lack of time or money. A third of you struggle because they are too far away and one in ten of you said the topics on offer aren t of interest to you (see Chart 9). Other reasons given for not attending events included lack of awareness or relevance to your role. Some of you don t receive information about our events. 20

30 Chart 9 - Is there anything that prevents you from attending Skills for Care events? N=379 21

31 3.4 Contact with Skills for Care Three-fifths (57%) of you have contacted Skills for Care in person, by telephone or since January The most popular reasons were in relation to the Care Certificate and the National Minimum Dataset for Social Care (NMDS-SC), closely followed by funding, standards, learning and qualifications, the Care Act and the Social Care Commitment (see Chart 10). Chart 10 - What did you contact Skills for Care about? N=192 22

32 What happens next? We value your feedback and therefore we will: continue to disseminate information through all relevant communication channels use the suggestions you made to inform future issues of our enews including more news/updates and real-life examples of good practice where appropriate further promote our Learn from Others resource which contains case studies across a range of social care subjects, related training materials, films and other learning to help employers learn of good practice being undertaken by other employers continue to provide a range of different types of events to cater to the widest possible range of needs 23

33 4. The National Skills Academy Key findings Two-thirds of you are aware that Skills for Care and the National Skills Academy merged in June We will continue to promote this information and the benefits that it brings to the sector. Awareness of National Skills Academy products and services ranged between 39% and 57%. 24

34 4.1 The National Skills Academy (NSA) On 10 June 2014, the National Skills Academy for Social Care merged with Skills for Care to maximise the impact of our combined knowledge and expertise in the sector. We used this survey as an opportunity to find out how far the message about the merger had spread. Two-thirds of you are aware that the National Skills Academy has merged with Skills for Care (see Chart 11). Chart 11 Were you aware that the merger of Skills for Care and the National Skills Academy had taken place? N=338 More than half of you are aware of the Registered Managers Support Programme, the Graduate Management Training Scheme / Graduate Internship Programme and the endorsement process. Two-fifths of you are aware of the Leadership Programme, Membership Scheme and Registered Managers Network (see Chart 12). 25

35 Chart 12 What is your experience of the following National Skills Academy products and services? 26

36 What happens next? We value your feedback and therefore we will: continue to support Registered Managers and employers through our Membership offer revise and re-launch the endorsement framework, a unique quality mark for learning and development providers in the Adult social care sector. The renewed framework will have a simplified application process and offer an improved support system for those wishing to apply. An Approved Programme status will be included for endorsed providers who wish to have their programmes approved and marketed continue to deliver four Leadership and Management Programmes funded by the Department of Health, namely Top Leaders, New Directors, Moving Up BAME and the National Graduate Management Scheme review and refresh our current leadership offer and develop a suite of programmes to be offered to endorsed providers as approved programme consult with the sector as part of this process to identify need in terms of leadership and management programmes and other products 27

37 5. Conclusions and next steps Thank you to everyone who responded to this year s survey. Your feedback is invaluable to us in guiding the future direction of our work. We were pleased to find that a high proportion of you are satisfied with our offer and you value our services highly. On the key measures of success, we have maintained satisfaction levels close to those reported in Where you have made suggestions we are currently reviewing these with a view to improving our services going forward. Our commitment to you is that we will continue to strive to maintain, and where possible improve, the customer service experience across all service areas. 28

38 Appendix A Respondent profile The charts below provide a profile of respondents to the Customer Satisfaction Survey Over half (53%) of the respondents were social care employers or managers. One in six (18%) were learning providers and the remainder were a mixture including social care workers, stakeholders/representative bodies and workforce development staff (see Chart A1) Almost half (48%) of the respondents were from the private sector. A quarter (25%) were from the voluntary/third sector and one in eight (12%) were from Local Authorities (see Chart A2) Compared to the NMDS-SC database, the survey sample under-represents local authorities and over-represents the voluntary or third sector 4. Seven in ten (68%) of respondents work for organisations registered with the Care Quality Commission (see Chart A3) Two-fifths (39%) of the respondents MAIN service area was adult residential care, a fifth (19%) was adult domiciliary care and one in ten (10%) was adult community care. A quarter (27%) ticked the Other box. This included training providers, organisations crossing the Adult and Child and Family social care divide and those working in housing (see Chart A4). Compared with the NMDS-SC database, adult social care was slightly underrepresented in the sample and the Other category was over-represented. In terms of the geographical spread of areas where the respondents organisations operate the sample was broadly in line with the NMDS-SC database, with the exception of the South East which was over-represented (see Chart A5). Compared to the NMDS-SC database, the survey sample under-represents employers with 0-4, 5-9 and staff and over-represents employers with , and 500+ staff (see Chart A6). This is an important finding which should be borne in mind in the interpretation of findings. 4 We use the NMDS-SC database as a comparator to assess whether the sample is representative of the sector as a whole. Please note that this is used as a proxy and does not provide accurate data at establishment level. 29

39 Chart A1 Which of the following best describes you? N=329 Chart A2 Which of the following best describes your organisation? N=335 30

40 Chart A3 Is your organisation registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC)? N=337 Chart A4 What is your MAIN service area? N=309 31

41 Chart A5 What area/s does your organisation operate in? N=338 Chart A6 How many people does your organisation employ? N=338 32

42 Skills for Care West Gate 6 Grace Street Leeds LS1 2RP Telephone: info@skillsforcare.org.uk Web: 33