National Skills Academy for Social Care pilots new values-based recruitment kit for employers

Social care employers can now use a new toolkit to help them find the right candidate for the job.

Yesterday, Care and Support Minister Norman Lamb launched the values-based recruitment kit, which has been developed by the National Skills Academy for Social Care, during a special reception in Westminster.

The tool, which will be piloted over the next year, puts key values such as compassion, integrity and commitment at the heart of social care recruitment. It includes guidance for employers on how to draft job advertisements, examples of interview questions and links to the Skills Academy’s Leadership Qualities Framework.

Launching the toolkit, Mr Lamb said: “Treating people with compassion, dignity and respect is at the heart of delivering good quality care to individuals and forms part of the core values that define good care work. This new toolkit gives employers, especially small and medium sized care providers, all they need to assist them in recruiting staff who have the right values, practical support in the questions to ask potential recruits and in how to find the right person.

“We know that good care is already being delivered in many areas across the country, but others are not always able to recruit and retain the candidates they need. I hope that this toolkit will be a helpful additional resource for recruiters to build an effective, quality workforce.”

After the launch, Debbie Sorkin, chief executive of the National Skills Academy, said: “This is a really important step for the sector – a workable model in support of values-based recruitment, especially of front-line care and support staff. We believe it will improve outcomes for people being supported and for the sector and contribute to the transformation of social care. It is a key part of the Skills Academy’s remit to strengthen leadership behaviours at every level of the social care workforce.”

To view the toolkit, visit https://www.nsasocialcare.co.uk/values-based-recruitment-toolkit.