Workforce Development Fund


File 05-03-2017, 11 46 02 pm

You could claim money towards developing your employees

If you’re an adult social care employer in England, you can claim the Workforce Development Fund (WDF) towards the costs of your employees completing adult social care qualifications, units and learning programmes.

The WDF will pay a contribution of £15 per credit for QCF qualification units on the list of acceptable units, with a maximum of 60 credits per learner per funding year. How much employers can claim back will depend on the qualification, the units selected and how many credits make up those units.

As this is an employer fund, you as the employer must join a WDF employer led partnership or be claiming directly from Skills for Care if they are in one of the advertised local authority areas.

As a Learning provider, we cannot do this on an employer’s behalf but we can offer you guidance and support. We can advise you on registering with the WDF and then track your learners and issue you with the appropriate certificates to enable you to claim from the fund.

As an employer based in the South West of the UK you will be able to claim the WDF directly from Skills for Care.

Level 2 Diploma Health And Social Care (Adults) England £690
Level 3 Diploma Health And Social Care (Adults) England £870
Level 5 Diploma Leadership In Health And Social Care And Children And Young People’s Services (QCF) – Adult pathways only. £1,350
Functional Skills English Level 1 £75
Functional Skills Maths Level 1 £75
Functional Skills English Level 2 £75
Functional Skills Maths Level 2 £75

So, for example, as an employer that places a member of staff on a Level 2 diploma programme who requires functional skills at Level 1 you could receive £765 from the WDF. These funds can help to compensate for extra costs whilst the employee is undertaking training and help with the new 10% co-investment requirement of the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

Detailed information can be found on the Skills for Care website.

To access this funding you have to comply with just 4 requirements:

  1. Be an adult social care employer in England
  2. Have an NMDS-SC account that meets WDF requirements
  3. Complete a Direct Access Declaration form and return it to Skills for Care
  4. Submit completed qualification unit summary sheets or a copy of each learner’s certificate to evidence claims.

Varsity Training can help you through this process by giving advice and practical support. If you want to create your National Minimum Data Set for Social Care account (NMDS-SC) then please click on the link below.

https://www.nmds-sc-online.org.uk/default.aspx

The website also has lots of information and support to help you with your application.

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