In this December 2023 blog, Programme Development Lead, Holly, shares a bit more about the Better Careers for Better Care funding programme, what we are hoping to fund, eligibility, and the process for submitting an Expression of Interest.

The funding call closed on 10th January 2024.

I have been in post as the Programme Development Lead of Better Careers for Better Care since the summer and, coming from working in children’s mental health, I had a lot to learn. I am so grateful to all the people I have met so far who have shared with me the passion they have for their work in adult social care and the joy they find in it. I am also grateful for the education I have received, and continue to receive, in the complex and varied challenges facing care workers in adult social care, the organisations they work for, and the systems they operate in. All these conversations have fed into the design of the Better Career for Better Care funding call. The deadline for Expressions of Interest is 12 noon 10th January 2024.

While the call has been live, I have been meeting with organisations to answer questions about the programme and the Expression of Interest (EOI) process. Through these conversations, I have learnt what has come across clearly from the information we have so far provided, and where there is less clarity. And in each meeting, at least one pertinent question has been asked which has made me think more rigorously about what it is we are seeking to fund. This blog shares a bit more information about what we are looking for, eligibility criteria (or lack thereof!) and the process for submitting an EOI.

A bit more about what we are looking for

Across the Foundation’s responsive grant-making programme, we look for work which could change the way issues are tackled in our society and which could have lessons for others beyond the funded organisation. Through the Better Careers for Better Care programme, we are looking for organisations and partnerships that are already committed to transformation and are responding innovatively to the many challenges facing care workers and workforce development in adult social care.

Although the designated pot of £2 million is large for us as a grant-maker, we recognise that it is tiny in comparison to the size of adult social care as a sector and the workforce development challenges it faces. That is why we want to collaborate with organisations and partnerships that have a culture of, and commitment to, transformation and change. We want to think creatively with partners about how our funding can be used to unlock and overcome barriers, ultimately in order to improve the care older people receive. We have the privilege of being independent and our grants can be more flexible in both what is funded and how it is funded.

We see ourselves as one small piece of a much larger puzzle. Through the EOIs, we want to understand the current work of organisations and partnerships to innovate, build evidence of the difference made, and influence systems-level change. The work could be based in a geographical area or focused on a particular theme. Within the EOI we have asked for initial ideas about how the Foundation’s funding might be used and an indication of the expected outcomes for carers and care provision as a result of the funding, however, we are not seeking project plans or budgets at this stage. Through the EOIs we want to identify partners to work alongside to develop full applications and the detail needed for our Board to make a decision later in 2024.

A few specific clarifications on language

People in later life: The Foundation’s funding priority is to improve the quality of life for older people and their carers and so when we speak of people in later life in the funding guidelines, we are referring to those who draw on care. We recognise that the adult social care workforce has significant numbers of older people working in it. In such circumstances, by supporting the career development of older care workers we are improving the quality of life for older people who are also carers. We will of course also consider proposals that specifically address recruitment and retention of younger people, which we see as crucial to building a sustainable workforce into the future.

Innovation: When we speak of innovation, this could be in reference to the idea that is being proposed, the processes and mechanisms put in place to design and/or deliver the project or programme, or the relationships, networks and communications established to facilitate it. What we want to see is fresh thinking that has the potential to address entrenched issues within adult social care workforce development.

Co-production: Co-production of career development opportunities and workforce development plans is articulated as one of the funding priorities on the guidance webpage. The TLAP National Co-Production Advisory Group say that ‘when co-production works best, people who use services and carers are valued by organisations as equal partners, can share power and have influence over decisions made’. We believe this would involve both care workers and people drawing on care and/or their families in the development and delivery of workforce development plans.

Eligibility

The Better Careers for Better Care grant-making programme is a first for the Foundation in a number of ways: taking a strategic and collaborative approach based on learning from consultation, using an EOI process, involving External Advisors in our assessment process, and having an independent evaluation partner alongside the funded programme. We are taking a different approach because we are seeking to contribute to change at a systems-level in a way we haven’t done before.

As this is a new approach for us, we are taking an inclusive approach to eligibility. We are open to receiving EOIs from organisations working in all types of care settings, non-statutory and statutory, not-for-profit and for-profit. We are open to hearing from organisations of all types and size. What we want to see are the best solutions to entrenched, systemic issues facing care workers and workforce development in adult social care. We want to find organisations or partnerships with the capability and networks required to test these solutions and share the learning. We do not have a preference about who does the work.

Our guidance webpage states that we are ‘particularly likely to fund partnership bids’, and we do have a preference to fund partnership working. This is because we believe that to have an impact at a systems-level, many different organisations must be convinced and willing to offer support. This does not mean that only partnership bids will be considered, but we do want to see organisations thinking about who needs to be engaged and involved to give their proposed projects the best chance at success.

The guidance also states that partner organisations will need to contribute funding and/or significant in-kind support. This is not prescriptive and could be funding that has already been allocated to change and transformation in relation to career and workforce development; it could be the associated organisational costs needed to facilitate the proposed project; it could be the time needed from managers, leaders, or external consultants (e.g. website designers); or it could be additional funds secured alongside our funding. What we want to see is that partners are willing to contribute as much as they can to support the proposed work.

How to submit an EOI

We want to keep things as simple as possible. To submit an EOI simply download the EOI form here, complete it in Microsoft Word, and email it to me – hbaine@raynefoundation.org.uk.

Along with the EOI, please also provide your availability for a 45-minute online interview between Monday 22nd and Wednesday 31st January. The interview will be with a sub-section of the Assessment Panel and constitute 30% of the final score. 70% of the final score will come from the full Assessment Panel’s scoring of the written EOI. Only long-listed organisations/partnerships will be fully assessed including being asked to interview.

We recognise that writing and submitting bids takes time and energy and we are committed to providing feedback to all organisations that submit an EOI. To manage expectations, it feels important to share that we are unsure of the number of EOIs we will receive, and that we have limited resources and capacity. The reason EOIs may not be longlisted or shortlisted may simply be that we receive too many EOIs to take forward and that other EOIs scored higher If we do receive more EOIs with exciting and innovative approaches than we could possibly fund with the designated budget, we will share this with our Board and revisit the purpose and parameters around the grant-making programme.

We are currently developing an Impact Evaluation Framework with our independent evaluation partner. This will be available to shortlisted partners to inform the development of full applications in the first half of 2024.

An open invitation to reach out

I know that the deadline is less than a month away now, and that the winter holidays will take a chunk of this time. But I am ready and available to meet online if you have any further questions about the process or initial ideas you have for funding. Please reach out via email if it would be helpful to meet, and if not, I hope to have the opportunity to learn more about the work you do through an EOI.

In addition, if you have any queries about outcomes and impact evaluation, our evaluators are available to discuss your plans with you, particularly at the full application stage.

For full details of the grant-making programme, please visit the Better Careers for Better Care webpage.

Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you.

The funding call has now closed. If you have any queries, please email the Programme Development Lead – hbaine@raynefoundation.org.uk

In this blog, our Director Crispin Truman shares the Foundation’s evolving thinking which has led to the development of a new, proactive and collaborative grant-making programme into adult social care.

It has been over a year since I became Director of the Rayne Foundation. It was a very exciting move for me, not least because all my previous roles have been on the other side of the table, looking for funding and making the case for investment.

So from the start, and particularly now we are carrying out a review of our priorities and strategy at the Foundation, I made it my mission to connect with and learn from as many of the leaders of the organisations we fund as possible. It’s also been one of the most enjoyable things I’ve had to do, visiting numerous projects and hearing from the people working on them has not only increased my understanding of the issues faced by those we fund, but also encouraged me to think about the Foundation’s role and responsibility as an independent funder and how we ensure that our grant-making provides the best and most valuable support possible to those most in need, in the future.

So I am particularly delighted that we are exploring a new, proactive approach to our grant-making through the Better Careers for Better Care programme. The programme will explore and test how the Foundation’s limited resources can have the biggest positive impact, working with others to improve the quality of life for older people and their carers. The new approach has been designed using the Rayne Foundation’s working values as a framework, aiming to be trusting, collaborative, creative and rigorous.

In this blog I will share a bit about how this programme has developed and the grant-making process we have designed, in preparation for the launch of an open call for Expressions of Interest on 13th November 2023.

Our evolving thinking

Our evolving mission as an independent funder is to realise  the potential of organisations to work together, to develop and share solutions, and to create a fairer society.  We look for good ideas from which other people can learn and which have lessons beyond the local.  We seek to influence those with the power and resources to secure long-term and widespread implementation of solutions.

We know why we do this – to improve lives and promote social change. And we know how we have always done this – through a responsive, rolling grant-making programme.

However, a discussion has been going on at the Foundation since before my arrival, about whether we could use our resources and funding differently to better effect change in our areas of special interest. Could we be more strategic, more proactive, more collaborative in order to increase our impact?

We have most consistently and thoughtfully asked these questions of our funding to improve the quality of life for older people and their carers. Our Head of Grants, Susan O’Sullivan, shares this journey and the key learning so far in her blog here.

After listening carefully to leaders in adult social care, the Foundation committed financial and team resources to the development of a new, proactive and collaborative funding programme to run alongside the continuing open grants programme.

We have an independent evaluator, Bean Research, who will help us to understand the impact of taking a different approach, and capture learning to support us into the future as our grant-making continues to evolve.

Strategic Grant-making

The Better Careers for Better Care grant-making programme aims to support innovation, creativity, and collaboration in the social care sector, specifically focused on the care workforce. We believe we must be strategic in where we direct our funding to contribute to change at a systemic level and that this is an area of particularly high need.

We know that there is no one single solution to the many and varied workforce challenges within adult social care and that action is needed at multiple levels to contribute to change at a systems level. We hope to be one part of a wider ecosystem of organisations, funders and commissioners seeking to improve the lives of people in later life through contributing to the creation of a thriving and dynamic workforce.

We believe that better career development opportunities will result in better care for those who need it most. The funding call to be launched on 13^th November is framed by what we heard from the sector and will seek partners to lead innovative work which contributes to systems-level change in one of the following areas:

1. Recognition, acknowledgement and championing of the value and skills of care workers.
2. Sustainable recruitment into the social care workforce.
3. Design, delivery, and support to access career progression opportunities for staff across the social care workforce.
4. Development of sector leaders.
5. Empowering and enabling social care leaders to contribute to strategy development in health and social care.
6. Co-production at the local, regional and/or national level of career development opportunities and/or workforce development plans.
7. Establishing inclusive, learning cultures within care in later life, and evidencing positive impact on both the workforce and the quality of care for older people.
8. Connecting care provision for people in later life with the wider community to support recruitment and retention within the social care workforce.

Collaborative Grant-making

We want to create a culture of collaboration and support at all stages of the grant-making process. Recognising the time and energy it takes to apply for funding, the Foundation is using a simple Expression of Interest form for the first time, helping us to understand the work that organisations are already involved in and asking for an initial idea for development. We don’t want fully formed applications because we want to think with organisations about how our funding can be used most creatively and effectively.

We acknowledge that we as funders do not have the lived and learned expertise and experience that exists within the social care sector. We have therefore asked a number of External Advisors to join the Foundation team in the assessment of the Expressions of Interest. Another exciting first for the Foundation.

Visits to organisations as part of our second stage application process have been greatly valued by the Foundation for many years – we learn so much from meeting and talking with people. In keeping with this, all longlisted organisations will also be asked to meet with a sub-section of the Assessment Panel before shortlisting takes place, allowing us to hear first-hand from potential partner organisations about their work, the challenges they face and the possible solutions.

We hope from this shortlisting process to find a group of programmes with the vision, energy and momentum to have a transformative impact on staff development in adult social care. We are looking for partner organisations with whom we can then work to develop applications for Board decision which maximise the potential of independent funding.  £2 million has been set aside for this programme with grants expected to range up to the value of £300,000,

And we don’t want to stop there. Once grants have been awarded, we want to continue working together to  ensure that progress and learning is captured. We will use our networks and influence to share the learning, in the hope we can have an impact beyond the programmes we are funding.

Could this be for you?

We hope that many of you reading this blog will be as excited as we are by the funding opportunity and approach described. You can find all the information on the programme and call for Expressions of Interest here. If you think that you may be well placed to submit an Expression of Interest, I really encourage you to reach out to our Programme Development Lead, Holly, to find our more and discuss your initial thinking.

The Better Careers for Better Care funding call is now closed. If you have any queries about the programme, email Programme Development Lead Holly Baine 

Over the past sixty years, the Rayne Foundation has been privileged to fund and learn from countless organisations working to improve the quality of life of older people and their carers. And in my years as the Head of Grants, I have been privileged to visit many inspiring and innovative projects bringing care, creativity and joy into older people’s lives.

Through these relationships, we have learnt that providing better career and professional development opportunities for people working in care results in better care for those who need it most. And the evidence supports this[i].

To better understand the ways in which the Foundation, as an independent grant-maker, can support career opportunities for care workers, we have spent the past few years listening to leaders across adult social care. These leaders, while navigating the complex and volatile pandemic context, generously shared with us the challenges and opportunities they see in the sector in relation to staff development.

What we learnt is detailed below, as are our plans for proactive and collaborative funding which resulted.

The journey so far

The Rayne Foundation has funded organisations supporting care for people in later life since its founding in 1965, and for many years, improved quality of life for older people and their carers has been an area of special interest.

The Foundation has previously been a responsive funder in our areas of special interest. In 2018, the Trustees and Staff felt that we could improve our grant-making if we had a better understanding of the sector.

Trustees commissioned an external report on the current state of residential care for older people which included recommendations for funding. A number of grants were made as a result, in the main to organisations providing activities and creative opportunities in care homes.

The Foundation also collaborated with the Dulverton Trust, the Tudor Trust, the John Ellerman Foundation and Social Finance to develop concepts with the potential to provide scalable and sustainable ways of improving quality of life for older people. You can read more about this work here.

And then the pandemic hit. Those drawing on and working in social care faced the most challenging and distressing time since the welfare state was established. The every-day kindnesses that were part of care workers’ day jobs became acts of heroism.

The pandemic highlighted the significant issues already facing social care and we at the Foundation saw how these issues prevented the everyday activities we funded from making the impact we hoped for. Chief among these issues was, and is, the recruitment and retention of care workers.

With a belief that well supported, trained, and motivated staff are key to improving the quality of life for older people, we changed our direction to focus on the social care workforce. We have spent the past two years listening to social care leaders, umbrella bodies and providers about the challenges and opportunities in relation to staff development. The Foundation has convened a number of events and working groups, exploring four main themes:

• Replication of existing good practice
• Mentoring and Coaching
• Bullying and Harassment
• Community Engagement

The culmination of this process was a plenary session bringing together all those who had contributed so far, and which resulted in our a commitment to co-create a responsive and flexible funding programme in partnership with the local care landscape.

Key learning

We learned an incredible amount about the experience and needs of the social care workforce. We want to share this learning to ensure all in the sector can benefit.

Training and qualifications

• There is a gap in the market for an inspirational training programme or qualification for those new to care which can demonstrate their developing skillset and identify the aspects of care which interest them most and might help shape their career.
• Local authority and NHS training for the workforce is patchy and based on the commissioners’ view of what is needed rather than the care sector’s view.
• Some career progression routes do exist, for example Nurse Associates, but depend on a stable nursing workforce. There is no specialist qualification for Social Care Nurses.
• Care staff have specific expertise in areas of value to NHS peers such as dementia, complex needs, and end-of-life care.
• Cross-sector placements within health and social care are valued to share expertise, develop trusting relationships, and gain understanding of the other’s roles and the pressures they experience.
• Ancillary staff such as cooks, gardeners, and care takers, are often overlooked but contribute to the culture of a care home and also have the potential to become care workers.

Mentoring and coaching

• There is consensus that mentoring and coaching techniques are a good thing and can support staff when they experience particular challenges or at particular points in their careers.
• Coaching techniques give structure to staff responsible for supervising and managing other staff, and support opportunities for reflective practice, action learning sets and development of shared best practice.
• There is no prescribed approach to mentoring & coaching for social care and the evidence base is mixed.

Bullying and Harassment

• Anecdotally, bullying & harassment is widespread. The scale of the problem is not known and complicated further by the lack of a clear definition and reluctance to complain.
• Lots of examples were shared of bullying happening at all levels and between all agencies, among individuals and at the institutional level, some of it overt but much of it subtle and insidious.
• In some cases, it can be difficult to separate bullying from holding staff to account for poor decisions in managing someone’s care.
• Open working cultures, space for reflective practice, values-based recruitment, staff learning and development, and non-siloed working with other professionals were identified as ways of helping to address concerns.

Community Engagement

• It is important to connect the wider community to social care so that people can see its value, the many different roles within it, and that it is an exciting place to work.  Social care settings also have an important contribution to make to the communities in or near which they are sited.
• Many opportunities have been overlooked in relation to partnerships with local schools, colleges, universities and others, particularly in smaller homes without a large support infrastructure. There is a need to help to broker and maintain these relationships.
• Sharing the stories of the many and varied roles in social care and different career progression routes is very important, particularly from the perspective of those working in the profession and the perspective of those receiving care.
• Good community engagement starts with homes led by strong, confident leaders who feel able to connect their home to the wider world; the pandemic has negatively affected engagement but also increased public awareness of care homes.

Principles for future funding

Through this listening process, we have developed the following principles to guide our future funding.

Share the learning.

• Funding will be directed towards areas of practice that can be replicated.
• Where possible, funding should support opportunities for staff across different sectors within and across health and social care.
• Share learning through communications and events.

Acknowledge the diversity of jobs in the care sector and provide career development opportunities for areas of workforce which have been historically less well supported.

• Provide opportunities to staff who may not habitually have development opportunities.
• Increase public understanding of diversity of careers in social care.
• Consider the value that specific groups bring to the care sector such as neurodiverse individuals, people returning to work after a career break, and recently retired.

Support career progression in different contexts

• Increase equality of access to career development by supporting career progression for staff in small care homes which may not have the infrastructure of large corporate chains, large charities or Local Authorities.
• Consider the difference between rural and urban contexts.
• Reach out to homes with relatively few self-funding residents.
• Recognise the diverse needs of people receiving care.

Acknowledge the multiple impacts of the pandemic

• The negative impacts such as burnout and the impact of deaths on both staff and residents.
• The positive impacts such as the increased understanding and appreciation of the role of care workers.

Proactive and collaborative funding: Better Careers for Better Care

Armed with the rich learning and increased understanding of the challenges and opportunities for the social care workforce, the Foundation is now embarking on a proactive funding programme:  Better Careers for Better Care. The Foundation has earmarked £2 million for the work and a Programme Development Lead has joined our team to work alongside sector leaders and innovators to deliver the programme.

In June this year, we made our first grant, to the North Central London (NCL) Councils in support of their Social Care Workforce Programme. It will fund the development of an NCL-wide Apprenticeship Programme and a Leadership and Integration Programme. North London will serve as our pilot site and provide the opportunity to learn alongside commissioners and providers as the grant-making programme develops.

This Autumn, we will launch an open call for Expressions of Interest, seeking partners to work with on ambitious proposals for funding that have the potential to transform career and development opportunities in adult social care. We hope to support innovation, creativity and collaboration in the sector, and be part of the wider ecosystem of organisations, funders and commissioners seeking to address the many challenges faced by older people and their carers. More information on the call for Expressions of Interest will be shared in the coming month.

I would like to extend many thanks to those who have given their time so generously and taught us so much. We look forward to continuing this journey together.

[i] Skills for Care Rapid Evidence Assessment: adult social care and factors associated with productivity and work performance, published 2017; 

Towers A, Smith N, Allan S, Vadean F, Collins G, Rand S, et al. Care home residents’ quality of life and its association with CQC ratings and workforce issues: the MiCareHQ mixed-methods study. Health Serv Deliv Res 2021;9(19)