South Shields woman to advise Government on social care

Dr Angela Brown, from South Shields, founded Training in Care to encourage and help more people to become care professionals.

She has now set her sights on helping the Government tackle underfunding, skill shortages and under-provision in adult and child support.

Dr Brown has previously helped five EU nations draw up plans to address issues with social care provision.

She said: “The problems with social care are not an easy fix. 

“This Government have a big challenge ahead. We need to provide people with a  clear pathway of progression when they go into the sector.

“They need to know more about what is involved and what skills they will build up rather than just being told they will be working in personal care.”

Dr Brown has been reflecting on the last 25 years running Training in Care, she said: “It’s amazing to look back at how far we’ve come.

(Image: CREO COMMS) “When I set up the business, it was just me, working on my own to design and deliver a course to help people gain the knowledge and skills required to work in care.

“Now, we’re delivering a wide range of courses across the country which have helped thousands of people find their dream jobs in what is such a rewarding industry.”

According to the UK Government’s latest ‘Adult Social Care Workforce’ report for England, there are over 131,000 vacancies within the nation’s adult care sector.

Over 400,000 people in the UK are awaiting social care assessments, reviews, direct payments, or care packages.

“Our approach was really pioneering when we started out,” Dr Brown added. “We really changed the way local authorities and care providers viewed vocational training and we were even asked to advise a number of governments in the EU, which was surreal.

“However, despite the success our approach has had in helping to get more people into the sector, the UK’s social care crisis – which was only worsened by the previous government’s austerity measures – has left the country with over one hundred thousand social care vacancies waiting to be filled. And with an ageing population, this problem will only be exasperated unless new measures are introduced.

“This is why partnerships, such as those we have entered into with the University of Sunderland and the UK Government to ensure people have not only the skills, but also the confidence needed to make the switch into care, are so important if we are to prevent the crisis from worsening.

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“It’s something we are incredibly proud as a business to be part of and hopefully, through this and the other projects we have in the pipeline, we can go some way to helping more people get into care and relieve some of the intense pressures facing the sector. It is gearing up to be yet another busy year, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Training in Care’s vocational care courses offer numerous opportunities within the child and adult care sector to those who are either wishing to change career, are leaving education, as well as those who are struggling to find work or who have found themselves in long-term unemployment.

For more information on Training in Care, visit: https://www.trainingincare.co.uk/