For County Durham's independent and voluntary social care & health sector employers

What is the National Minimum Data Set - Social Care?

There are an estimated 1.5 million workers in the UK's social care sector, yet what is known about this workforce is patchy and incomplete. This means that the resources available are not always directed where they are needed most. In October 2005 Skills for Care launched the National Minimum Data Set for Social Care (NMDS-SC), in a bid to change this.

The aim of the NMDS-SC is to provide a coherent approach to information collection using a single point of processing and analysis. It is the most ambitious workforce planning initiative ever undertaken in the care sector. The high quality, up-to-date information it generates can then be used by Skills for Care to influence strategic planning and resource allocation at both national and regional level.

The NMDS-SC gathers information about the social care sector. It has been designed to gather information about services and information about the social care workforce.

This information is important for several of reasons:

Employers

The NMDS-SC provides a single source of basic information about services and workers that will enable employers to plan their business activity and determine the skills base needed by the workforce now and into the future.
The NMDS-SC will provide reports to employers that will enable informed business decisions and enable employers to access different staff development or business development funding.
The NMDS-SC Online enables employers to keep their workforce information in the workplace, its easy to use and to update records and for those organisations who do not have an electronic staff record system the NMDS-SC provides one!

Strategic Planning

The NMDS-SC will enable planning at a local, regional and national level. This is critical in providing stability and growth in the social care industry.

Commissioners

The NMDS-SC at a local or regional level will provide the information about services, capacity and workforce skills to take the guesswork out of resource allocation and meeting the social care challenge.

Funding Agencies

The workforce information will enable funding agencies to support employers and business development in the sector by targeting resources to where they are needed.

Inspectors

The NMDS-SC provides up to date workforce information that will meet the inspection requirements of the National Minimum Standards.

Policy Makers

The NMDS-SC will enable Skills for Care to reflect the real cost of social care and the services to meet the needs of an ageing population now and into the future.

Decha are serious about adequate resources, support for business development and improving the education and skills base in the sector then we need to know more about the social care sector in County Durham, so please register on the National Minimum Dataset for Social Care.

The success of the National Minimum Dataset for Social Care will depend on employers seeing the benefits of workforce information and being excited about engaging with the NMDS-SC Online. Decha will work with employers to feedback workforce intelligence to our membership to influence investment and workforce planning.

www.nmds-sc-online.org.uk