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50% CARE HOMES NOT CLAIMING THEIR TRAINING ENTITLEMENT by Hilary Collins
50% CARE HOMES NOT CLAIMING THEIR TRAINING ENTITLEMENT
There are only a few industries left where funding can be claimed against training. Tony Willson, Managing Director, Helmsman Services, explains how to maximise the grant system in the care sector.
We recently undertook some of our own market research and we were astonished to find up to 50 per cent of care homes not claiming what they are entitled to. It’s true it’s not an easy process to gain the funding but once you know your way around the system there is money there for the taking.
Unlike some other industries funding in the care sector is finite, and this year has seen an upsurge in claims and already the funding is running, or in some cases, has run out.
What should you do?
The first rule is to plan ahead and decide your training needs well in advance. This will give you the opportunity to work with a training provider, such as Helmsman that knows how to maximise your funding claims, or look at any other training on offer. If you want find out about and make the claims yourself be prepared for lots of paperwork, but you will effectively lower your training spend, which is essential in the current economic climate.
The main source of funding is the Training Strategy Implementation (TSI) Funding that is passed out by Skills for Care, to mainly County-based not-for-profit organisations set up by local authorities and providers. These all seem to run in slightly different ways, some just dealing with funding claims whilst others organise free, or heavily discounted training.
However, two common areas of bureaucracy that are required are that settings register on the NMDS-SC (National Minimum Dataset for Social Care) database and have updated the entry each year. Then they must register with the local organisation.
The funding, which for this year is £65 per unit, covers the following -
* Induction (Common Induction, Manager Induction and Learning Disability Induction)
* Health and Social Care NVQs (including Assessor and Verifier awards)
* Leadership & Management for Care Services NVQ level 4
* Mandatory training units – First Aid, Food Hygiene, Manual Handling and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)
The claims require another form but for the Mandatory subjects, there has to be evidence of ‘accreditation’ or ‘validation’ of a course. What this is designed to stop is someone in a setting delivering a half-hour course on First Aid and claiming £65 a person. However, whilst Skills for Care have recently clarified what it feels is the evidence required, it is still not totally clear.
Where an external provider is accredited to, say CIEH, for Food Hygiene, most employers would not want to pay the extra £15 a head for the exam and certificate from that body. But it seems that a training provider can run the course for which they are accredited and that will be OK for grant purposes.
However, Patient Moving and Handling does not seem to have an accredited course so the training provider (or setting) must show that the instructor has the ‘qualifications’ to deliver it. What those might be is, currently up for discussion!
Train to Gain offers free NVQ Level 2 but, this year has seen the Learning and Skills Council in a total mess with its funding and so there have been wholesale reductions in the numbers of new starts given to providers. This means that settings are finding that they may even have to pay an Admin Fee of up to £125, just to get an employee started. However, we add value to our client’s business by offering the full range of Mandatory Training, as well as the NVQ for a £75 fee!
For employers of new entrants into the industry, being able to claim £65 for completing the Common Induction Standard, three mandatory courses as above and 6 units for a Level 2 NVQ will see them reduce their bills by £650.
Train to Gain also offers funding to employers to help them defray the cost of losing their employee for periods when they are being assessed for their NVQs. There is a maximum of £350 payable (£5 an hour for 70 hours) which means that, with the TSI funding, an employer can gain a total of £1,000 per person. This latter funding is not always mentioned by the training providers and is relatively easy to claim.
Care of children and young people is dealt with by the Children’s Workforce Development Council who fund NVQ Level 3 & 4 in Health & Social Care and Level 4 in Leadership & Management in Care Services. Again this is on a ‘first-come-first-served’ basis and funding closed in July due to ‘uptake exceeding expectations’. The next round of funding and Train to Gain should come after April 2010 but CWDC are not sure what amount of money they will have and what they will fund at this stage.
Another package is Leadership and Management that provides up to £1,000 against an investment by the employer of £500, for training that is essential for a senior member of the business. This can be accessed via Business Links.
There are various other funding packages that are offered, mainly by the Regional Development Agencies, Business Link or other local organisations. Some of these are E.U. funded and are special to that region. For example EEDA in the East has Beyond 2010 which offers a Needs Analysis and funding of up to £3,000 for ‘higher level’ training.
Funding can be a minefield of grant applications, but it can bring in much-needed cash. Spend time researching local courses and funding organisations, or if the bureaucracy proves too much, simply find a company that can do it for you.
To find out more visit http://www.helmsmanservices.co.uk.
900 words
Tony Willson
Managing Director Helmsman Services Ltd, who manage training and development, grant claims etc for Care organisations (01206 366100)
About the Author
Copywriter at Big Wave PR http://www.bigwavepr.co.uk
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