Workforce Development Funding 14/15

Attempting to claim Workforce Development Funding may seem incredibly daunting at first, but our aim at LSCP is to make the process as simple as possible and support you from start to finish. Firstly, let's take an overview of the requirements for claiming Workforce Development Funding, don't worry if some of these don't make sense at first, we will go into more detail a bit further down!

Must be an Adult Social Care Employer

The Workforce Development Fund (WDF) is a funding stream from the Department of Health disseminated by Skills for Care. It focuses on the achievement of qualification units and supports the ongoing professional development of staff across the adult social care sector.
For employers, accessing WDF significantly contributes towards the costs of workers' completing units and qualifications on the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF). It can also be used to help fund the delivery of intermediate and advanced level Apprenticeships in social care.
Funding is only available for specific QCF units, as outlined by Skills for Care, the qualification or unit must be completed and internally verified before we will consider submitting the unit for funding.

Must fully complete NMDS-SC

Before we can begin to process any claims for your organisation, you must ensure that all organisational data has been inputted onto the National Minimum Data Set for Social Care(NMDS-SC). For more information on NMDS-SC, please refer to this page.

Must complete a Membership Form

If you have previously claimed Workforce Development Funding through the Greater Merseyside Care Partnership you will have been contacted to renew your membership status, if in doubt, please contact John Callaghan using the details at the bottom of the page

You must join a Partnership to begin claiming Workforce Development Funding, please ensure you have read our introduction to Workforce Development Funding and when completing your Membership Form, please put the name of the Partnership you are joining as 'Greater Merseyside Care Partnership'.

It is advised that you fully complete your National Minimum Data Set for Social Care prior to completing a Membership Form to ensure that all details match. Please note that each ESTABLISHMENT may only join ONE PARTNERSHIP. If you have previously registered your establishment or organisation to a partnership other than the Greater Merseyside Care Partnership (for the purposes of claiming Workforce Development Funding), there will be some further steps to undertake, please contact us for more information.

You should strive to complete as many parts of this form as possible, if required parts of this form are missing, you will not be added to the Partnership and be allowed to submit a claim, if in doubt please contact John Callaghan.
  • Organisation Name
    The Organisation Name which you put on your Membership Form will be used to refer to your organisation / establishment throughout the contract period so please try to keep it as simple as possible, the name you choose should ideally match the name of the establishment which you have chosen when uploading your data to the National Minimum Data Set for Social Care, if you have not yet done this, please refer to this page. Please refrain from using any cryptic or internalised code for your Organisation Name
  • NMDS-SC ID
    This is the identification number which is assigned to you when you register your establishment on the National Minimum Data Set for Social Care. It will usually be 1 letter followed by 6 numbers, e.g. F12345. If you do not supply this identification number your application to join our Partnership will be rejected as your NMDS-SC status will not be verifiable. If you are unsure of your NMDS-SC ID please contact the NMDS helpline on 0845 8730129.
  • Contact Name
    Certain information may be considered confidential in nature, in those instances only the person named on this form will have access to this information, this person will also be contacted as a priority if there are any issues relating to WDF, please think carefully about who your named contact person will be, as you may not want your CEO receiving phone calls about NMDS-SC compliance. There is a space provided further down the form for an alternative set of contact details.
  • Number of Employees in your Organisation
    Please try to present this number as accurately as possible at the time of completing the form, it will help us to estimate the size and cost of your claim.
  • Name of Partnership your are joining:
    Please put 'Greater Merseyside Care Partnership' in this section, if in doubt you may leave it blank
  • Your NMDS-SC registered address
    This address must match the address you used to register onto the National Minimum Data Set, it will also be used as your default contact address unless the alternative details section is completed.
  • Phone Number
    This will be the main phone number we use to contact you regarding WDF
  • Fax Number
    LSCP/GMCP will not contact you via fax due to security concerns.
  • Email
    Your Email address will be used as your primary point of contact for Skills for Care / Workforce Development Fund news and updates, it is imperative that the address you give in this section of the form is available at all times. LSCP/GMCP cannot guarantee to recognise any Email Delivery Failure messages, it is your responsibility to ensure that the address you give to us will be reachable. Please check that the following guidance points are met
    • The Email address given is checked regularly
    • The Email Inbox has enough available space to accept emails up to 10MB in size
    • Please ensure admin@lscpinfo.co.uk is not blocked from your Email inbox to ensure all messages are received
    • You must ensure the Email address remains active, in some circumstances you may need to log into the Email Inbox regularly to prevent it from being deleted.
    • If you do not have an email address please state ‘no email’ in this part of the form.
  • Alternative Address:
    If you would prefer for all postal mail to be delivered to a separate address such as a Head Office, please put those details here.
  • Alternative Phone Number
  • Alternative Fax Number
  • Alternative Email
  • Member Declaration
    Please read this section carefully before signing
  • Signature & Date
    These sections may be completed electronically, for more information on completing a Partnership Form electronically please refer to our blog post.

The additional pages attached to your Membership Form will allow you to quickly add other NMDS-SC establishments using just the establishment name, address and NMDS-SC ID. If you only wish to register 1 establishment you may disregard these additional pages.

Must submit evidence of completed qualification units

Please try not to submit evidence for units which are not available to be claimed, for a comprehensive list of which units are available for funding, please refer to this list. (temporarily unavailable, please check back soon).

We accept Adult Health and Social Care QCF Unit summary sheets from the Assessment Centre or Awarding Body that must contain the following information:
  • Candidate Name
  • Candidate Registration / Enrollment Number
  • Each Unit must be Signed and Dated by the Internal Verifier within the specified funding period (1st January 2013 to 31st March 2014)
  • Unit code (In accordance with the list currently published on the Skills for Care website www.skillsforcare.org.uk/wdf)
  • The Title of the Unit being claimed.
  • The Organisation / Establishment for which this unit is being claimed (You do not need to write this onto every piece of evidence, but some form of organisational identification should be securely affixed (Staple or Wallet, please do not use paper clips).
If any of this information is missing or incorrect the unit will be rejected. We will not return any copies of Unit Summary Sheets you have submitted.

Units to be claimed must be fully completed within the funding year 1st January 2013 to 31st March 2014

If only a sample of units have been signed off by an internal verifier, a statement from the training provider stating the sampling procedure that was used in verifying the units submitted will be acceptable. This must be provided for each batch of units that are submitted.

Internal verification progress reports or equivalent may be accepted as evidence, as long as all information required is provided and the internal verifier has signed against each unit being claimed.

We advise that you take copies of any evidence prior to sending to LSCP, or submit the units electronically so they may be easily stored and recorded. You may submit Unit Summary Sheets electronically by scanning them, saving as .pdf format and sending to john@lscpinfo.co.uk

If you choose to submit your evidence through the postal system, we offer the following guidelines:
  • Please choose recorded delivery to ensure your package is delivered correctly.
  • Please do not overfill packages/envelopes, if a package bursts open we cannot guarantee that all sheets will be received.
  • Packages may be hand delivered but you must arrange an appointment, please call to arrange a drop off.
When submitting units, if you are claiming as part of a Health and Social Care Apprenticeship, please inform your Partnership Administrator of the staff names who are currently studying as part of an Apprenticeship.

Other Notes

Funding claims from all sources should not be more than the cost of the training (i.e. no profit must be made from these funds). Any excess shall be repaid to Skills for Care before any other funder.

Backfill Claims

We are currently discussing with Skills for Care the specifics of claiming for 'Backfill' costs in the new WDF contract, please check back soon, or you may give us a call on 0151 270 1703.

Questions / Comments

You can view our Frequently Asked Questions by clicking here.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact John Callaghan on 0151 270 1703 and please direct any emails to john@lscpinfo.co.uk
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