The Tyne and Wear Care Alliance through our Employer Engagement contract with Skills for Care has been tasked with supporting our members to complete the National Minimum Data Set for Social Care.  The NMDS-SC will eventually give us a complete picture of the social care workforce, and this vital information will help to plan for future training, qualifications, funding and policies to develop the sector.

The NMDS-SC will ensure that every scrap of workforce information that is given by employers up and down the country is analysed -- so that for the first time there will be an accurate and up to date picture online of social care across the country.  This data will help influence and determine the future funding, training and resource allocation for the whole social care sector.

It is estimated there are 1.5 million workers in social care in the UK, spread across some 38,000 employers. At present we don’t know how many people work in social care, how well qualified and trained they are or what employers’ and workers’ needs are.  In the Tyne and Wear region the Care Alliance has approx 600 member employers who need to have this document completed.

To date, 370 establishments signed up with the Tyne and Wear Care Alliance have completed their organisational questionnaire, 85 of these have updated their NMDS SC establishment date since April 2008. 

The completion of this data is linked to you being able to claim TSI funding.

To complete or update your NMDS online please click here http://www.nmds-sc-online.org.uk/

The National Minimum Data Set for Social Care (NMDS–SC) is a country wide initiative to gather workforce information for the social care sector. There are an estimated 1.5 million workers in our sector yet we know very little about them. The NMDS-SC aims to find out what types of people work in care and how well qualified they are. It is hoped that this information will enable Skills for Care to better obtain and allocate future funding within the sector.

The NMDS-SC hopes to obtain information about both your organisation and your staff. All information will be collected and held in accordance with the Data Protection Act.

For more information and assistance please contact your relevant Network Development Officer or alternatively contact the office on 0191 5484015