Three more social care training providers have been awarded the Recognition Award by the National Skills Academy for Social Care. Four others, who had already achieved Recognition status, have successfully become Centres of Excellence.
There are now 14 Centres of Excellence and 62 Recognised Providers.
Recognised Providers:
1. Bridgewater College
2. Creative Support
3. New College Nottingham
Centres of Excellence:
1. Birmingham Metropolitan College
2. Burnley College
3. Essential Learning Company
4. JS Consultants
The decisions for these organisations were ratified by a review panel which sat on the 14 July at the National Skills Academy for Social Care in London. The review panel, comprising representatives of the Skills Academy, employers and training providers, was chaired by Judith Salmon, vice chair of ACTAN.
The Recognition Award is awarded to training providers who demonstrate that their organisation takes a professional approach to education and training in adult social care.
The Centre of Excellence Award provides a guarantee of quality training, designed specifically for the adult social care sector, which can help the organisation attract employers looking to invest in their staff development.
Having gained the Award they will now be able to use the Skills Academy quality mark in all their promotional materials.
Training commissioners are increasingly looking for training providers to be endorsed by the Academy and could ultimately choose to only work with those providers that have been endorsed.
Only organisations which have already attained the Skills Academy’s Recognition Award are eligible to apply for the Excellent Provider Award.
Debbie Sorkin, Director of Engagement, National Skills Academy:
One of our key aims is to make excellent training and development available to those working in adult social care. Our awards show where this can be found and the availability of this is growing with each new organisation that achieves Recognition and Excellence Status.
At a time when budgets are being squeezed, the need for an assurance that employers and their staff are getting training that meets their specific needs as social care providers is greater than ever. The Skills Academy’s endorsement scheme gives them just that and I’m very pleased that three new providers have been recognised in this way and a further four have become Centres of Excellence.