Workforce Development Fund 2014/15

The Workforce Development Fund (WDF) 2014/15 is now available for adult social care employers across England to support the development of their staff.

Last year over 2500 diverse establishments used WDF to develop their staff to improve the quality of care they provide.

All staff working in adult social care should be able to access and take part in learning and development so they can carry out their role effectively and deliver high quality care. WDF focuses on the achievement of qualification units and supports workers ongoing professional development.

WDF supports the development of staff at level 2 upwards. Last year 188,000 Qualification and Credit Framework (QCF) units were supported by the fund.

Employers can use the fund to make a significant contribution towards the costs of their staff completing the QCF units and qualifications including units that develop staff knowledge around autism, dementia and mental health. It can also be used to fund Health and Social Care Apprenticeships.

WDF funds £15 per credit of QCF units with a maximum of 60 credits per learner per funding year being able to be claimed. Qualifications which are larger than 60 credits can be claimed over more than one funding year.

The Workforce Development Innovation Fund (WDIF) is a special funding stream within WDF. It aims to fund projects that are innovative in their approach to influencing workforce development in the longer term.

WDIF 2014/15 will fund projects which are applying new and creative ways of working to learning and development within the workforce. This may include the use of technology to support cost effective approaches to learning and development.

The projects funded must look to address a series of priorities and requirements including being scaleable, transferable and sustainable. They must also be able to demonstrate the benefits to business and improvements to service quality.

Applications for WDIF are now being sought from organisations or partnerships with the closing date for entries being Wednesday 11 June.

For further information about the fund including the priorities that projects should address and the requirements that must be met is available at www.skillsforcare.org.uk/Funding/Workforce-development-innovation-fund/Workforce-development-innovation-fund-%28WDIF%29.aspx.

A key part of WDIF is the sharing of good practice and learning from projects which have been funded. To access case studies from the innovation fund in 2011/12 and 2012/13 visit www.skillsforcare.org.uk/Funding/Workforce-development-innovation-fund/Workforce-Development-Innovation-Fund-%E2%80%93-sharing-good-practice-case-studies.aspx.