Guidance on the new Adult Social Care Training and Development Fund has been published, so adult social care employers can start to plan their training and development for the financial year 2024 to 2025.
The Adult Social Care Training and Development Fund for adult social care, run by the Department of Health and Social Care and administered by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), will operate through a digital service rather than a network of organisations awarding funding on behalf of Skills for Care.
The fund includes over £50 million to support up to 37,000 individuals onto the new Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate qualification in addition to funding for a range of other learning and development opportunities, reaffirming care work as a career and helping to promote recruitment and retain talent.
The scheme will fulfil a key commitment set out in the People at the Heart of Care White Paper and replace the Workforce Development Fund, which ends in its current form after the funding year 2023 to 2024 is completed.
This is the first version of guidance for employers, and confirms that eligible adult social care employers in England will be able to claim staff training costs from the Adult Social Care Training and Development Fund if they show evidence of the spend on training and that staff who are trained are in qualifying roles.
The guidance covers:
- the eligibility criteria for being able to make claims through the fund
- how the funding can be used, including the courses and qualifications within scope of the fund
- when the funding will be available
- the fund reimbursement rates
- the transition arrangements from the Workforce Development Fund
- details on how adult social care employers will be able to make a claim
The guidance says while claims will be eligible for learning and development started on, or after, 1 April 2024, there will be a phased approach to onboarding for the initial launch of the digital online claims service in summer 2024. NHSBSA will manage the onboarding and send invitations to adult social care employers to access the service.
An updated version of the guidance will be published with further information on how to use the digital claims service to claim reimbursement prior to it going live in summer 2024.
