A COMPANY that’s trained over 2,000 care workers over the past 25 years is gearing up for its biggest fight yet, as it sets its sights on addressing Britain’s social care crisis.
Training in Care has proved an outstanding production line for care professionals, and now its founder is marking quarter of a century in the sector by throwing her weight behind the Government’s plan to tackle underfunding, skills shortages and chronic under-provision in adult and child support.
Dr Angela Brown founded Training in Care in 2000 and works with several local authorities on how best to deal with the sector’s crippling skills shortage. She has also helped five EU nations draw up plans to address issues with social care provision.
Now, in 2025, the company is set for its busiest year to date, with a host of new initiatives launching to help address the skill shortage in England’s social care sector and ambitious plans to expand its offering, both at home and overseas. There is also enhanced Government will, with Health Minister, Wes Streeting, embarking on a three-year mission to reform how the country delivers social care.
“It’s amazing to look back at how far we’ve come over the past 25 years,” Dr Brown said. “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.
“It’s been an incredible journey, however we could never have achieved what we have had it not been for the support of our fantastic team and partners. It’s been a real team effort and hopefully the best is still yet to come.”
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. And with adult social care contributing at least £50 billion to the economy, the financial need to address the current crisis, is almost as stark as the human cost, with over 400,000 people in the UK awaiting social care assessments, reviews, direct payments, or care packages.
In response to this, Training in Care has been tasked with supporting a pioneering project – led by the University of Sunderland and backed by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) – which aims to help smooth the transition for those seeking to move into social care from other industries.
The company is also set to announce two new projects over the coming weeks and months – one at home and one overseas – which will see its approach to delivering vocational training and its knowledge of the field exported far and wide.
“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.
“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/
Image depicts Dr Angela Brown, founder and chief executive of Training in Care.