Multi award winning eLearning provider, Grey Matter Learning, has kicked 2024 off with a bang. They have received funding from Skills for Care to deliver their suite of leadership and management online courses, to over 180 care leaders.

The funding, which has been awarded by Skills for Care, will enable the training provider to offer their courses free of charge to social care professionals in leadership roles. This is to support their career development and overall standard of care.

Their Lead to Succeed, Well Led and Leading Change Improving Care (LCIC) courses will run between January – March 2024. Across a multitude of cohorts, with the first having already kicked-off.

Talking of the initiative, Commercial Director of Grey Matter Learning, Phil Hitchcox commented:

“Normally, care providers must pay upfront for these Skills for Care courses, and we then support them to claim back the costs through the Workforce Development Fund. But, this year, Skills for Care have taken a slightly different approach and released pots of money to enable training providers like ours to deliver this training at no cost to the care provider.

“We have seen a huge demand for these courses, mainly, we suspect, due to the ability to access this training with no upfront costs. We all know the struggles facing the social care sector right now, and the cost-of-living crisis has hit this sector like all others meaning budgets are stretched. So, Skills for Care taking this approach has been really well received by the sector and I hope to see such initiatives again in the future.

With an average turn-over rate of 28.3% and circa 152,000 vacant posts (Skills for Care), developing and retaining existing talent is key for the success of the social care sector. Only be showing clear career progression and opportunities will the sector attract and retain professionals. Phil went on to say that:

“It’s alarming to read in a recent report published by EveryLIFE, Leaders of Tomorrow, that of those leaders they surveyed, a staggering 31% are not aware of any leadership training but 58% cite recruiting skilled/experienced staff as the biggest challenge faced by care leaders. That’s why we are so passionate about initiative such as these, as they are helping to tackle these issues head on.”

Through their online delivery model, Grey Matter Learning can offer care leaders the opportunity to access sector specific professional development. But in a way that works around their busy schedules and other commitments. With over 3,000 social care managers having successfully completed the Lead to Succeed programme alone, the training provider is no stranger to delivering high volumes of training at scale and pace.