Welcome to the Centre for Workforce Supply Social Care International Recruitment into Adult Social Care in Scotland Project.
The project is testing models in Scotland to support the recruitment of adult social care workers ethically and sustainably from overseas. The aim is to respond to some of the challenges currently faced by social care providers.
The Centre for Workforce Supply Social Care (CWSS), in NHS Education for Scotland (NES) has been established to coordinate this work. A number of social care providers will be commissioned to work with CWSS to identify opportunities to recruit social care workers internationally.
This learning site has been developed to compliment this work, as a resource hub for both employers and candidates.
Resources
Introduction to learning site
This short video features the Director of Social Care for NHS Education for Scotland introducing the available resources.
International Recruitment into Adult Social Care - Learning Report
In 2023, NHS Education for Scotland (NES) Centre for Workforce Supply Social Care (CWSS) team were commissioned to deliver a feasibility study of international recruitment into adult social care in Scotland, in partnership with Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA); the initial phase of this pilot project concluded at the end of March 2024. The project’s aim was to conduct a feasibility study for the development of an ethical and sustainable, person-centred model of international recruitment underpinned by robust pastoral support.
The project was designed to:
- Test out the financial and logistical feasibility of providers rapidly developing an ethical and sustainable international recruitment care worker pipeline that was underpinned by robust pastoral support.
- Develop an understanding of the extent to which international recruitment is an effective way of growing the social care workforce, in line with demand to support the delivery of the ambitions laid out in the Scottish Government’s ‘Health and Care National Workforce Strategy’.
- Provide potential mitigations to recruitment challenges currently faced by the sector, thereby increasing quality of care and driving efficiencies.
- Provide an evidence base on which further work in international recruitment could be developed, including the potential to scale up the approach nationally or to other parts of the workforce.
The project successfully supported internationally recruited staff to take up posts within Scotland, identifying many learnings along the way that provide useful insights for stakeholders and care providers engaging in international recruitment in the future. The final report, which you can find here, sets out the context and policy frameworks that have guided the project, as well as details of the activities, lessons identified and recommendations for future activity.
Learning Report June 2024
- CWSS Learning Report ( Download, 10 MB)