Skills for Care launches first ever resources and funding guide for social care employers

Skills for Care have launched the first ever comprehensive online guide to resources and funding for social care employers who want to develop the potential of their organisations and train staff.

The resources and funding guide which can be accessed via the funding section of the Skills for Care website at the other funding sources page has been produced after some of England's 38,000 social care employers told Skills for Care that they find it difficult to easily source resources and funding to develop their organisations and train their staff.

All employers have to do is click on the name of the organisation in the guide's index for further information on what funding they have to offer. The guide is aimed at supporting any one of the 1.5 million social care workers who is interested in finding out more about the resources and funding that is available for them to access initiatives like the new learner accounts.

To make it even easier to use the guide is split into a national funding section and a regional contact list for local sources of funding.

Although this is the first guide of its kind Skills for Care recognises it will need to be regularly refreshed so any comments, ideas or additional sources of funding can be sent to marketing@skillsforcare.org.uk.

Once the guide is refreshed at the end of January 2009 Skills for Care will produce hard copies of the guide for employers to use in their workplaces complete with contact telephone numbers for each entry.

"There's no doubt many employers do find the often dizzying array of funding sources an obstacle to seeking money to train their staff which is exactly why we've produced this easy to use guide," says Skills for Care CEO Andrea Rowe.

"For the very first time we have brought together the wide array of resources and funding opportunities nationally and regionally into one easy to use online guide as we want every one of the 38,000 social care employers to be able to more easily access resources to support the development of their staff.

"If we are serious about making sure that every one of 1.5 million social care workers can access high quality training then we must make sure that employers can access resources and funding as easily as possible to make that aspiration a reality."