Local Authority, Adult Social Care Services across England are engaging with the national dataset.
- Over 10% of Local Authorities have now completed a full NMDS-SC record for the services that they provide and for the workers that they employ.
- A further 10% have completed both organisational information and have completed more than 50% of their worker records.
- 57 Local Authorities have started to enter organisational and worker records, some are just beginning and some have between 25% and 50% of their worker records entered.
The following table provides a summary of Local Authority (Adult Services) engagement by region:
Skills for Care started to target Local Authority engagement following the release of the ‘Bulk Upload Tool’ on the 21st April 2008.
The Bulk Upload Tool enables large complex organisations, like Local Authorities or Large organisations in the private sector to quickly and efficiently provide large amounts of workforce information without the need for manual data entry. This provides employers easy access to the range of benefits associated with NMDS-SC Online.
Since its launch in April 2008, Skills for Care have been working with and supporting Local Authorities at a regional and national level to start using the NMDS-SC. The table represented above indicates the volume of activity and the increasing importance that Local Authorities are attaching to update workforce information.
To add impetus to Local Authority engagement and completion of the NMDS-SC, Skills for Care and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services have entered into a partnership to support the use of the NMDS-SC in strategic workforce planning. The project to achieve this is the ‘Integrated Area Workforce Strategy’ (InLAWS).
This approach to service planning and workforce planning makes the most of the information that flows into the NMDS-SC at a local level. The aim of the project is to develop easy to use practical ‘tools’ and guidance that enables planning for an integrated workforce to take place.
This inclusive approach to planning will ensure that Directors are best able to meet the needs identified in their Joint Strategic Needs Assessment.
Completion of the NMDS-SC is an important and critical first step for all employers in social care towards mapping and understanding the workforce and services in a particular area. This will be a huge benefit for those who commission and for those who provide services within the Local Authority area.
Skills for Care anticipate and are working towards a 100% engagement and completion of the NMDS-SC across the Local Authorities in England.