Issue 11 provides an overview of the growing importance of information derived from the NMDS-SC for the social care sector.
It highlights how key stakeholders in the sector such as the Department of Health, Local Authorities and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) believe the NMDS-SC is providing vital workforce intelligence to inform planning, funding and commissioning across the sector at all levels.
The launch of the InLAWS project, a joint initiative between Skills for Care and ADASS, aims to develop an effective way to support Directors of Adult Social Services (DASS) with workforce commissioning across their local areas. NMDS-SC provides DASS with the essential data and workforce intelligence needed for this strategic planning.
A revised workforce planning toolkit will soon be available, designed to use the data from the NMDS-SC and help employers measure, understand and commission a workforce to meet the future needs of social care. A booklet of cases studies will also be available to share how Local Authorities across the country are tackling their long term approach to workforce strategy.
The briefing also details how:
- The NMDS-SC data is being used to estimate the current and future size and structure of the adult social care workforce
- Skills for Care are working with the NHS and CQC
- The NMDS-SC is being adapted to:
- Capture data from individual who employ their own
care and support staff
- Reflect the development of the new Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF)