Adult Social Care Training and Development Fund

Introduction

Find out more about the new fund that is replacing the Workforce Development Fund

The government is launching the new Adult Social Care Training and Development Fund. Eligible adult social care (ASC) employers can claim varying levels of reimbursement from this fund, for spend on upskilling the adult social care workforce in England. ASC employers can get reimbursement for:

care skills funding, including for the newly developed Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate
revalidation funding

This scheme will fulfil a key commitment set out in the People at the Heart of Care white paper, which outlines our 10-year vision for adult social care, to increase funding for learning and development and create thousands of new training places.

This guidance details the government’s offer, ahead of the launch of the digital online claims service, with the aim of enabling the adult social care workforce and ASC employers to be able to start to plan their training and development for the financial year 2024 to 2025.

The fund is made up of 2 elements:

care skills funding
revalidation funding

Claims for reimbursement will be made through a digital online claims service, which will go live in summer 2024.

List of Funded Qualifications and Learning Programmes

Care Skills Funding

This is funding to provide reimbursement for a wide range of training and development. The range of training and development supported by this fund will be adjusted over time to reflect emerging needs in the sector.

Over £50 million of the total fund value is dedicated to supporting up to 37,000 individuals in direct care roles to enrol onto the new Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate qualification by March 2025. See further information on the Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate on the Skills for Care website.

Further information on the total funding available under care skills funding will be confirmed later in the year, prior to the digital online claims service going live in summer 2024.

Revalidation Funding

As part of this fund the government intends to make contributions to the cost of continuing professional development for revalidation for eligible, registered staff. More information about this element of the fund, along with the total funding available, will be confirmed in summer 2024.

How to Claim

The fund is intended to be administered by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

While claims will be eligible for learning and development started on, or after, 1 April 2024, there will be a phased approach to onboarding for the initial launch of the digital online claims service in summer 2024. NHSBSA will manage the onboarding and send invitations to ASC employers to access the service.

An updated version of this guidance will be published with further information on how to use the digital claims service to claim reimbursement prior to it going live in summer 2024.

Please be aware that while this new fund is backed by a significant amount of funding the overall funding pot is limited and, once exhausted, claims submitted will not receive reimbursement. Throughout the year the sector will be periodically notified of remaining funding.

Like the WDF, to claim the fund, providers will have to complete the Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set (ASC-WDS)