Sector Skills
Sector Skills Councils are UK-wide, employer-led organisations which are licensed by the Department for Employment and Skills to cover a specific sector. As part of Skills for Care and Development (the Sector Skills Council for the Social Care, Children and Young People’s workforce) we have four key goals:
- to reduce skills gaps and shortages
- improve productivity, business and public service performance
- increase opportunities to boost the skills and productivity of everyone in the sector's workforce
- improve learning supply including apprenticeships, higher education and National Occupational Standards (NOS).
We are currently consulting on the Sector Qualification and Learning Strategy. This outlines priority skills areas identified by the Early Years and Social Care Sectors. It forms the basis of the future work to be undertaken by Skills for Care and Development across the UK and in Northern Ireland by the NISCC as the NI Sector Skills representative. It is vital to have input from the Social Care and Early Years sectors about the content of SQLS to ensure that the sector’s priorities for qualifications and skills have been heard and represented. This will ensure that the NISCC’s work on behalf of the sector will be relevant.
The Draft SfCD 2nd UK Sector Skills Assessment for the early years, children and young people's workforces is now available. The draft report includes those working in social work and social care for children and adults in the UK. A final version of this report will be available shortly.This assessment brings together the best evidence SfCD has at UK level for what is driving demand for skills in the sector, what impact that this has upon current skills needs and how skills needs are expected to change in the future. The report sets out SfCD's assessment of the demand for skills that exists across the sector, now and in the future.
NI reports are produced for each development stage of the Sector Skills Agreement are submitted as part of the UK report for SfC&D to the Sector Skills Development Agency for review. NI reports are also reviewed by the Department of Employment and Learning. Completed reports will soon be available to download below.
| SSA Stage 1 Report – Personal Social Services Workforce |
| SSA Stage 1 Report – Child Care and Early Years Workforce |
| SSA Stage 2 Report – Personal Social Services Workforce |
| SSA Stage 2 Report – Child Care and Early Years Workforce |
| SSA Stage 3 Report – Personal Social Services Workforce |
| SSA Stage 3 Report – Child Care and Early Years Workforce |
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