Adult Social Care providers support pack

General resources, local training and money saving opportunities for staff working in care

Logo	Information about company or resource
	Support to Improve your CQC Rating Skills for Care have a wealth of resources, tips and advice on how to improve your CQC rating. These include checklists, staffing guides, support for managers,targeted training and benchmarking tools.
	UK Government support for businesses around the Energy Bill Relief Scheme providing support for non-residential customers.
	Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub is a one stop shop for businesses including care organisations who want help around their growth and business sustainability. The Growth Hub runs programmes sometimes funded that can support with being more green and/or more competitive. Growth Hub business advisors can support individual businesses or groups of businesses in one sector and can provide practical help around refreshing business plans, developing strategy and accessing local, regional or national business funding.
	Think Care careers pages from Skills for Care - Lots of useful information and resources including video and tips for employment advisors tempting people to work in care. Good first point of contact.
	Sustainability West Midlands can offer some free support to businesses of any size and in any sector that are ready to make a commitment towards meeting the WMCA target of reaching a net zero carbon economy by 2041. In addition the organisation can offer a range of useful information, events and advice to businesses including consultancy services.
	International Recruitment - Skills for Care have web pages dedicated to supporting organisations interested in recruiting internationally.
	Act On Energy - Information on saving money on energy, grants for renters and home owners. Useful for both staff and businesses.
	Discounts for Carers is a web portal offering discount, cashback and vouchers for carers and care workers. Free to join, the site offers discounts across a broad range of goods including day-to-day shopping, motoring, insurance, and finance as well as broadband, TV, and utilities. There is also a cashback card for use at supermarkets and other local retailers.
	The Blue Light Card is another discount scheme and is open to staff working in social care. There is a small fee to get the card (approximately £5) and you have to upload evidence of working in the emergency services or social care (e.g. ID card) but that subscription lasts for two years. Discounts are available from over 15,000 sources; some big retail names, leisure and restaurants but you can't see the range of discounts available until after you have signed up.
	Skills for Care have web pages dedicated to supporting the development of leadership and management in care. The resources work for existing managers or those aspiring to move into a leadership role.
	The Care Workers Charity - Help and support to people working in the care sector.
	Pet-XI offers training for job seekers in essential and basic skills, the majority funded through European Social Fund (ESF) funding so are free to access. The organisation is offering an interactive online course to people who are considering working in social care. Courses consist of: Communication, Equality, diversity and inclusion, Personal development, Role of the social care worker, Handling information, Health and safety, Safeguarding, Duty of care, Person centered approaches.
	Thrive at Work is delivered in partnership with the West Midlands Combined Authority and is a good practice and quality award for health and wellbeing in work. The Thrive at Work commitment provides employers with a structured approach to workplace health and wellbeing. It’s a blend of organisational and individual wellbeing elements which are broken down into ‘modules’ such as policy and procedures, mental health, musculoskeletal and promoting healthy lifestyles. The programme is managed online with a bespoke dashboard to monitor progress and upload evidence against the listed criteria in order to gain accreditation of the Thrive Award. Organisations work at their own pace to implement the commitment criteria. Thrive at Work provides an accreditation for organisations of over eight employees. Best of all it's free! Organisations will need to identify a member of staff to become the Workplace Health and Wellbeing Lead and make a management commitment to support.
	Free Go CV app for residents of Coventry, discounts in shops and large discounts, sports facilities, theatres, museums and on fees for Adult Education courses. Register on the Go-CV website.
	Adult Education provides courses and learning opportunities for both employers and employees. Course range from leisure subjects to work-related. Some courses are free other chargeable but Coventry residents can get a significant discount by applying for the Go CV app/card. Adult Education can also commission and provide specialist and bespoke workplace training for employers including moving and handling, medication control etc.
	Cov Connects can support local people with digital inclusion, provide social internet tariffs, digital training and support. Access to volunteer digital champions through digital drop-ins in local libraries. Online guides and support for older people going online including digital safety. Access to free sim cards with data.
	Individual Skills for Care Membership supports leaders, managers and owners to keep up with and develop best practice and knowledge, keep up-to-date with sector developments and share ideas with like-minded peers. For £35 per year, managers can become a member and benefits include access to exclusive resources, monthly newsletters and discounts. Membership benefits printed copy of our Social care manager’s handbook* monthly newsletter, including practical information and guidance an exclusive annual resource when you renew your membership discounts on key resources, programmes and events the chance to train to become a mentor, or receive mentoring a membership certificate and logo exclusive access to recorded digital masterclasses to support social care recruiters in using social media to boost recruitment and retention. The masterclasses focus on Facebook, twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
	elfh (elearning for healthcare) - Health Education England initiative. Over 400 E-learning programmes to support workers in healthcare. Courses are from basic to advanced. Users need to register to access the programmes.
	Helen Sanderson Associates provide a range of e-learning opportunities to support staff around person-centred care practice, support planning and risk-taking. Courses are accessed through buying licences with a sliding scale of prices depending on how many licences are required.
	Sky Blues in the Community is the registered charity of Coventry City Football Club and organises a range of community initiatives around health and wellbeing that local people can access.
	The Care School offers a huge range of training for both clinical and non-clinical tasks. Much of the training is online/distance learning and can be accessed for free or around £10 a course.
	Pets as Therapy is a national charity that provides trained and tested therapy dogs to support people who would benefit from having a bit of canine contact in their day. Pets as Therapy local volunteers will bring animals to sessions, events or just to visit individuals in a wide variety of care settings from schools, to residential homes, dementia groups and even prison.

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