12 - 2025-12-10 IJB - Care Academy Update
North Lanarkshire Council · 10 December 2025
Back to Health and Social Care Integration Joint Board — 10 December 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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1 REPORT Item No: 12 SUBJECT: Care Academy Update TO: Integration Joint Board Lead Officer for Report: Morag Dendy, Chief Officer Planning, Performance and Quality Assurance Author(s) of Report Lynsey Smith, Brighter Futures Manager DATE: 10 December 2025 1. PURPOSE OF REPORT This report sets out the considerable progress that has been made across the Care Academy workstreams over the past 12 months ensuring a reach across a wide range of groups within North Lanarkshire. Some key next steps exist within the workstreams which have been described throughout the report. This paper is coming to the IJB for: For approval ☐ For endorsement ☒ To note ☐ 2. ROUTE TO THE BOARD This paper has been: Prepared By: ☐ Reviewed By: ☒ Endorsed By: ☒ This report has been reviewed by the Senior Management Team and was presented to North Lanarkshire Council’s Adult Care and Social Work Committee on 11 November 2025 for endorsement and approval.
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2 3. RECOMMENDATIONS It is recommended that the IJB endorse the contents of this report, the progress made and next steps. 4. VARIATIONS TO DIRECTIONS? 5. BACKGROUND/SUMMARY OF KEY ISSUES 5.1 The Care Academy is a collaborative initiative between NHS Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire Council, South Lanarkshire Council, University Health and Social Care Partnership North Lanarkshire and University Health and Social Care Partnership South Lanarkshire. Its vision is to build a vibrant, sustainable workforce for health and social care across Lanarkshire. This report outlines progress and next steps across five strategic workstreams for 2025/26. 5.2 The pan-Lanarkshire Care Academy is in place to respond to opportunities arising from workforce challenges and future demand which exist within the Health and Social Care sector across Lanarkshire. The partnership formalises working relationships between the councils, NHS Lanarkshire and partners such that there is a process in place for identifying, defining, and progressing potential opportunities for engagement and collaboration. 5.3 In an employment context, in 2024, Human Health and Social Work was the largest employing industry in Lanarkshire, accounting for 48,100 people. This industry is forecast to remain in the top employing sectors in the Lanarkshire between 2026 and 2033. Future job openings are expected to be concentrated in a small number of industries. Within the period 2024 – 2027, figure 1 highlights the forecast total requirement by industry. As is clear, Human Health and Social Work has a requirement of 5,200 people (1,000 based on predicted expansion demand and 4200 based on replacement demand). Yes ☐ No ☒ N/A ☐
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3 Figure 1 – forecast total requirement by industry Source: Skills Development Scotland Regional Skills Assessment, October 2024 5.4 Employment growth in this sector is driven by Scotland’s ageing population along with the aim to protect the provision of frontline services. It is therefore crucial that the attractiveness and retention of jobs within this sector remains a key focus for the Care Academy activity. Vision, aims and objectives 5.5 The overall vision for the Care Academy is to: Develop a robust, sustained, vibrant Care Academy attracting and developing a diverse workforce for health and care services in Lanarkshire and promoting the sector as a rewarding choice for careers. Increasing awareness and engagement about the Care Academy across all partners and organisations to support people from our communities working in our communities. 5.6 The Care Academy aims to: Create the health and social care workforce for the future that best services the needs of people living in Lanarkshire. Contribute to addressing deprivation and inequalities across Lanarkshire to help people live their lives to the fullest.
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4 Provide pathways to fair work, meaningful employment, and progression across the breadth of health and social care. Build a strong talent pipeline to meet future demand and reduce skills shortages within the health and social care sector across Lanarkshire. 5.7 The overarching primary objective of the Care Academy is in building and maintaining capacity in the workforce, aligning activity within and across organisations and filling workforce demand to enhance capacity and future proof the workforce within this sector. Remit 5.8 The Care Academy focuses upon a number of key areas - providing strategic direction of all activity within the remit of the Care Academy Steering Group, oversight of and alignment of funding, resource and collaboration to increase and maximise effectiveness, risk management, maintaining oversight of and mapping outcomes. It has 5 dedicated workstreams to take this work forward to ensure that all activity aligns to the vision, aims and objectives of the academy. Report 5.9 Activity and next steps across the 5 dedicated workstreams exist to progress towards the aims of the Care Academy and respond to opportunities arising from workforce challenges (and future demand) which exist within the Health and Social Care Partnerships across Lanarkshire. Figure 2 highlights the link between the Care Academy aims, the supporting workstreams and their purpose. Figure 2 – Care Academy aims and workstreams
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5 5.10 The range of programmes and activity within each of the workstreams is highlighted in figure 3: Figure 3 – Care Academy activity for workstreams 1,2 and 3
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6 5.11 Workstreams are convened by Leads for their subject matter and members include representatives of each of the collaborating partners and key stakeholders, including North and South Lanarkshire Councils, NHS Lanarkshire, Higher and Further Education, Skills Development Scotland and Developing the Young Workforce (DYW). The below provides an update on the current progress and activities under each workstream. Workstream 1 - Attraction, recruitment, retention and wellbeing 5.12 In line with national priorities to grow and sustain the health and social care workforce, NLC, NHS Lanarkshire and SLC have implemented a range of initiatives to promote careers in the sector across Lanarkshire. These initiatives aim to attract individuals from all backgrounds, including those furthest from the labour market, into meaningful and sustainable employment in health and social care. 5.13 Areas of focus: Review and assessment of gaps in skills and progression within the care sector and development of pathways within the sector. Review and assessment of hard to recruit posts. Retention of current workforce. Continue to support current and future best practice in relation to recruitment and retention. Practical examples of activity 5.14 All three organisations operate targeted recruitment campaigns to widen access and promote inclusive employment. NHS Lanarkshire’s recruitment website highlights current vacancies and outlines structured career pathways, aligned with NHS Scotland’s national values-based recruitment approach. SLC and NLC advertises opportunities via the MyJobScotland portal, complemented by bespoke campaigns for priority roles such as home carers and support workers. 5.15 There is active engagement with schools, colleges, and community partners through employability services. These services provide tailored support to job seekers, including those with disabilities or other barriers to employment, and are aligned with the Scottish Government’s No One Left Behind and Young Person’s Guarantee policies. Apprenticeships form a key component of the workforce development pipeline, offering structured, work-based learning opportunities that align with both local and national workforce planning priorities Next Steps 5.16 Now activity has been formally consolidated, the group will focus on identifying areas of joint activity and shared practice. Revised recruitment material will be promoted through the Care Academy website and use of common branding to promote career opportunities and pathways into social care.
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7 Workstream 2 – Pathways to care for young people 5.17 Areas of focus: Expand and increase school-based pathways and programmes that lead to employment/careers in health and social care at all levels. Raise awareness of the wide-ranging opportunities that exist within the health and social care sector including allied health professions and the progression opportunities available to all. Expand and develop the partnership between NHS Lanarkshire’s Next Gen Team and Lanarkshire Schools to widen reach and to include health and social care, third and independent sectors. Practical examples of activity 5.18 South Lanarkshire College and New College Lanarkshire are now represented on Workstream 2 to continue to build upon the existing relationship with both education institutions. 5.19 ‘The Bungalow’ (former janitor’s house on Our Lady’s High School Motherwell Campus) has been repurposed to a skills for learning, life and workspace with one room set up specifically for health and social care activities and learning experiences and in the same theme, a classroom at Braidhurst High School has also been repurposed as a rehearsal space for clinical and a wide range of health and social care activities. 5.20 Health and Social Care awards and qualifications are offered at SCQF levels 5-7 across all schools in the senior phase of learning. In the academic session 2024/25, 14 young people completed a Higher National Certificate in Health and Social Care in S6 at High School. This leads to progression to year 2 of a Higher National Diploma with New College Lanarkshire and then to year 3 of a Degree with University of West of Scotland. In this same year, 79 young people completed a Foundation Apprenticeship in Social Care. In session 2025/26, 151 young people opted to embark on these subjects in the senior phase of learning. 5.21 Health and Social Care activity and learning experiences with care experienced young people included work placements and a wide range of activities raising awareness of and providing opportunities and experiences in this important employment sector. 5.22 Alongside this, activity also took place across in the following areas: • Audit of Health and Social Care subjects and opportunities offered in secondary schools. • Health and Social Care - Immersive and digital classroom experiences • NextGen events. • Monklands Replacement Project summer schools x3. • Health and Social Care Foundation Apprenticeships and links with NHS. • Future Fridays Health and Social Care related activity.
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8 • Health and Social Care in primary schools in partnership with New College Lanarkshire. • Summer placements across NLC and NHS Lanarkshire provided work experience within the sector to attract a future workforce. Workstream 3 – Adult pathways to care 5.23 Areas of focus: • Practical additional activity targeted at adult employability participants. • A greater emphasis on Health and social care roles alongside the wider occupational areas / job roles in the NHS supported by some current programmes. • Providing additional value to current activity through increased use of NHS and council work placements and innovative recruitment practice to move participants into employment. Practical examples of activity 5.24 Project Search The programme supports young people 16-24 with learning disabilities to take part in a programme of work placements, employability support and training delivered at NHS Lanarkshire hospitals in partnership between the Councils, NHS and New College Lanarkshire (NCL) and ISS facilities management. Placements are in predominantly in non-clinical roles including portering, catering and stores. Within North Lanarkshire, 16 young people are currently on the project at University Hospital Monklands and Wishaw and within South Lanarkshire, 8 participants are on project at University Hospital Hairmyres. 5.26 Demonstrator Paid 6-monthly work placements within a range of NHS Lanarkshire workplaces leading to progression to employment. Funded by NLC and SLC No One Left Behind parental employment programmes. Placements are in a blend of clinical and non-clinical roles. Participants to date are noted below: NLC – 20 parents SLC – 14 parents confirmed) NHS – 10 confirmed, 9 spaces still to fill (recruitment in process) ISS (Hairmyres) – 2 The State Hospital – 2 SLC Social Work – 2 5.27 Through programmes with their respective ALEOS both local authorities also contribute the following: 5.27.1 Routes to Work South (RTWS) RTWS deliver keywork support to adults with barriers to employment through the Gateway to Employment and Making it Work Programmes. as part of the support available RTWS can deliver ‘sector routeways’ in response to employer / participant needs. This includes social care – programmes are designed to equip the participants with the knowledge and skills to secure employment
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9 within the specified industry sectors through a combination of certificated and non-certificated elements together with employability skills and tailored employability wrap around support and job brokerage to progress participants to employment within the sectors 5.27.2 Routes to Work (RtW) Ltd (North Lanarkshire) RtW deliver keyworker support to all age employability clients and to low- income parents via the Working for Families project in North Lanarkshire. Many will go into jobs in Health and Social Care including roles such as carers, support workers, admin, catering, porters, pharmacy assistant and activities co- ordinators. To support their progression into these opportunities they provide vocational training focused on the health and social care sector prior to presenting clients to employers in the public and private sectors. These include qualifications such as REHIS Food & Health/ First Aid/ Safe Manual Handling/ Health & Safety in the Workplace/ Food Hygiene /Cleaning and Disinfection. 5.28 Care Routeways are also provided which includes personal development elements such as Positive Mental Attitude, SQA Mental and Wellbeing, Confidence Building and ‘a day in the life of’ and work with external training providers to deliver vocational training appropriate to the sector. 5.29 Clinical Support Worker Programme Led by New College Lanarkshire, the programme offers a comprehensive support programme to 80 participants in total annually (over 4 intakes) that delivers accredited training, work experience and a guaranteed positive outcome for those who pass the course. The delivery of the programme is split over 6 weeks and over the first 2 weeks the college delivers: IOSH Working Safely (Industry qualification) Values and Principles in Care (SQA unit qualification) Confidence Building Personal Resilience Team Building/Collaborative Skills Organisational and Problem-Solving Skills 5.30 The next 2 weeks NHS delivers: Moving and Handling Techniques Infection Control Tissue Viability Basic Life Support Hygiene Practice Clinical Practice and Induction Standards 5.31 The last 2 weeks is the period beneficiaries are based in the wards of NHS Lanarkshire, where they demonstrate their Hygiene and Clinical Practice skills. 5.32 Employment Application
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10 Towards the end of the 4-week training process, before the beneficiaries’ progress to their work experience in the wards, they complete the NHS application process, and the feedback from the wards, course tutors and mentors will be considered along with their application. 5.33 Job Entry The job is within the NHS Nurse Bank, where the partnership creates a gateway and widening access role into developing along a career pathway to becoming a registered healthcare practitioner should the individual seek to develop this. Once on the Nurse Bank, the beneficiary will get the opportunity to apply for a substantive post within NHS Lanarkshire or remain on the Bank. Being on the Nurse Bank, gives the beneficiary the flexibility to work shifts that suit their work life balance, without being curtailed to a substantive post with shift patterns. 5.34 South Lanarkshire Works – Keyworker programmes The council’s employability team supports key priority groups including young people aged 16-19, people with additional support needs and parents. Participants can take part in work placements as part of their individual action plans and will receive a training allowance (subject to Better Off calculations) in agreed blocks of 6 weeks. Work placements are sourced to meet participants needs and can be across the public, private and third sectors. Those participating to employment can access sector specific training of up to £2000. 5.35 Parents in low wage / low paid employment can be supported to increase their earnings through the Aim to Achieve programme which can include the provision of training where the employer has agreed to increase wages / hours. 5.37 Employment Clearly workstream 3 demonstrates tangible routes to employment within the care sector for those unemployed and economically inactive residents receiving support from both local authorities’ employability programmes and in partnership with NHS Lanarkshire and local care providers. This is increasing employment within the sector and bringing in people who, without the Care Academy model, would not be employed into secure, sustainable employment. 5.38 There is an ongoing commitment from the delivery partners to increase co- ordination and integration of these programmes in future years and use them to drive up employment levels in both areas.” Workstream 4 – Funding and procurement 5.39 The Funding and procurement workstream has more recently been developed following feedback from the Care Academy Steering Group who identified a need to continually review and assess current and upcoming funding streams and identify potential gaps and opportunities. The group also identified a need to consider the potential of community benefits opportunities to support the work of the Care Academy workstreams. 5.40 Areas of focus: • Assess community benefits within current contract arrangements
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11 • Direct, where possible, community benefits into Care Academy activity • Community wealth building and entrepreneurship • Market facilitation • Identification of funding opportunities and “scoping out” potential programmes that match these • Sharing funding opportunities / pilot programmes etc with other workstreams to deliver / ensure mainstream funding where possible. Practical examples of activity: 5.41 Funding has been secured via UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) from NL Academies allocation to develop and deliver a pilot Care Focused Employability Programme. This will be delivered in North Lanarkshire by partner providers within the care sector, providing training in all aspects of the care environment, work-based experience in care settings and either employment or guaranteed interviews for a cohort of 20 people. Routes to Work and DWP will support in identification of potential candidates. The programme is targeted at economically inactive individuals who are resident in North Lanarkshire and will address barriers to employment by being flexible in delivery (including short or part time hours if required). Workstream 5 – Communications and Marketing 5.43 It was identified by the Care Academy Steering Group that a specific Communications and Marketing workstream was required to focus upon all aspects of this activity in relation to the Care Academy. The focus includes the promotion of activity under a single Care Academy “brand”, developing and updating the website to ensure it is accurate and reflects all partner activity, and consideration of further using social media channels and ensure a consistent Care Academy presence in all forms of communications and marketing. This workstream is also responsible for identifying suitable awards programmes and progressing entries on behalf of the Academy and developing promotional events. Given the cross-cutting nature of this workstream, the below areas of focus link directly with the activity across all other Care Academy activity. 5.44 Areas of focus: Identifying hard to recruit roles and hard to reach demographic groups across our bases and outline career progression opportunities. We're rebranding the Care Academy website to reflect a pan-Lanarkshire identity and enhance its functionality as a central digital hub, by reviewing and updating content, and integrating accessible tools and resources for users exploring careers in care. We're working to identify and promote awareness of the spectrum of roles available, and ensuing career paths, and career progression opportunities across health and social care sector. Other areas of development 5.45 A Delivery Framework for the Care Academy is being developed to ensure alignment and interconnection across the five workstreams. This will provide
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12 focused actions as it will set out the deliverables and projects/activities being undertaken by each workstream to achieve the aims and objectives of the Care Academy. To measure value and outputs, performance measures are also being developed and aligned to deliverables. 6. CONCLUSIONS 6.1 Considerable progress has been made across the Care Academy workstreams. Various projects have been developed and implemented over the past 12 months ensuring a reach across a wide range of groups within North Lanarkshire. Some key next steps exist within the workstreams which have been described throughout the report. 7. IMPLICATIONS 7.1 NATIONAL OUTCOMES Link(s) to National Health and Wellbeing Outcomes People are able to look after and improve their own health and wellbeing and live in good health for longer ☐ People, including those with disabilities or long-term conditions, or who are frail, are able to live, as far as reasonable practicable, independently and at home or in a homely setting in their community ☐ People who use Health and Social Care Services have positive experiences of those services, and have dignity respected ☐ Health and Social Care Services are centred on helping to maintain or improve the quality of life of people who use those services ☐ Health and Social Care Services contribute to reducing health inequalities ☐ People who use Health and Social Care Services are safe from harm ☐ People who work in Health and Social Care Services feel engaged with the work they do and are supported to continuously improve the information, support, care and treatment they provide ☐ Resources are used effectively and efficiently in the provision of Health and Social Care Services ☐ 7.2 ASSOCIATED MEASURE(S) 7.3 FINANCIAL
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13 This paper has been reviewed by Finance: 7.4 RISK ASSESSMENT/RISK MANAGEMENT Relevant Risk Register Details Current Risk Level Risk Owner Choose an item. 7.5 ENGAGEMENT & PARTICPATION Please tick the engagement and participation objectives that link(s) with this piece of work and provide further details regarding the engagement and participation that was undertaken. Objectives Further Details ☐ Involve stakeholders in the development work aimed at achieving the national outcomes ☐ Provide stakeholders with information on how to get involved ☐ Ensure a diverse range of engagement and participation and opportunities are in place to suit different needs ☐ Measure how well we involve community stakeholders in the planning, design and delivery of our services ☐ Provide regular feedback on how stakeholder engagement and participation is shaping and influencing service development and delivery ☐ Provide support to enable stakeholder representatives to participate meaningfully and confidently at meetings ☐ Develop participation guidelines to ensure a common understanding and set of expectations for both stakeholders and partnership staff Yes ☐ No ☐ N/A ☐
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14 ☐ Support engagement planning and participation in localities, taking account of other engagement activity and local plans across the Community Planning Partnership 7.6 INEQUALITIES & FAIRER SCOTLAND DUTY EQIA Completed & Fairer Scotland Impact Assessment Form Completed and attached to report: EQIA added to website: 8. BACKGROUND PAPERS 9. APPENDICES Please include a glossary of terms if not already included. N/A Morag Dendy Chief Officer, Planning, Performance and Quality Assurance CHIEF ACCOUNTABLE OFFICER (or Depute) Yes ☐ No ☒ N/A ☐ Yes / Date added ☐ No ☐ N/A ☒
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15 Members seeking further information about any aspect of this report, please contact the following;
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16 Direction from North Lanarkshire Integration Joint Board (IJB) 1 Reference Number 2 Report Title 3 Date direction issued by IJB 4 Date from which direction takes effect 5 Direction to: 6 Does this direction supersede, revise or revoke a previous direction – if yes, include reference number(s) 7 Functions covered by direction 8 Full text of direction 9 Budget allocated by Integration Joint Board to carry out direction 10 Performance Management / Governance arrangements 11 Date direction will be reviewed
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