Workforce specialist makes post-Covid predictions for the Social Care sector

SCOTLAND’s ‘heroic’ social care sector is set to play a key role in supporting the nation’s economic recovery from the pandemic.

Innovative care industry workforce specialist Netli is predicting the new-found respect for social care staff – fueled by wide scale praise for their front-line work during the Covid-crisis – will spark unprecedented new interest in the sector in the coming year.

Netli CEO Stephen Wilson said the pandemic has provided a platform to showcase the value and importance of social care – and particularly of the social care staff – to our society like never before.

Stephen said: “People – from our politicians down – now see social care, and the need to care for our most vulnerable individuals, differently. Social care staff – as exampled by the Clap for Carers – are being seen as heroic.

“That should lead to two key developments over the coming year – more funding in social care and better wages for social care staff. Combined, this will enhance social care as an exciting career choice and should open up huge new job opportunities.

“Added to this, the new respect and value that social care now has, should act as a trigger to encourage people in say, retail, hospitality or travel who have lost their jobs because of the pandemic, to take up new roles in social care.

“So when the UK opens up post-Covid, social care can be a key sector to support the economic recovery of the nation.

“That will be vital in supporting the challenges that the sector has faced to date. In Scotland, it’s been estimated that the care workforce must grow by 2.2% per year to keep up with the ageing population.

“The added value is that a better funded, better respected and well-staffed workforce means better care for our vulnerable citizens at a time they need it the most.

“And the services Netli has developed puts us in pole position to both support the funding bodies who contract care providers to implement this change – and to be the industry leader to take forward this vision.”

Netli believes its suite of bespoke online products can support the Scottish Government and Scottish Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) who contract services to care providers, to better utilise the social care sector to support the nation’s economic recovery from the pandemic.

And the Department of Health and Social Care in England have also announced an extra £120m of government funding to boost depleted staff levels.

Netli is now set to launch a proposal to all HSCPs in Scotland – as well as consulting with the Scottish Government – with aim of securing country-wide support and take-up of it services.

Netli’s expansion plans come as Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) publish a new report calling on the Scottish Government to learn the lessons of the pandemic and invest in data and technology to help Scotland recover from Covid-19.

Stephen Wilson, CEO and co-founder, said Netli’s software provides vital workforce data that can ensure the continuous provision of consistent and uninterrupted care in communities in Scotland and across the UK.

Stephen said: “Every person employed through Netli will positively impact the lives of at least three people in need of support.  This year we want to help at least 10,000 people into the care sector who in turn will support 30,000 people.

“But if we secure the wide scale take-up from local authorities and HCSPs from across the UK that we are looking for, we could see 100,000 jobs being created.

“I am calling every HSCP and Local Authority across the UK to work with us to meet and exceed these targets, and in doing so, support care providers across the country, as they have supported us in the past year through Covid.”

The company has developed its product offering over the last five years in direct response to the care industry’s demands for bespoke support and solutions.

Its proposal to HSCPs and the Scottish Government offers – for the first time – a process to gather workforce data from care providers on local, regional and national levels. This service – which delivers results instantly from LIVE data – would support the identification of current and future workforce planning, as well as spotting staffing gaps and other risks earlier. Armed with this bespoke information and expert tools to improve the recruitment and retention of employees, each HSCP can make data-driven decisions to support social care provision in their communities.

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