Provider: Hertfordshire County Council
Name: The Health and Social Care Trainee programme
Young people aged 24 and under make up just 10 per cent of the social care workforce in Hertfordshire, according to data collected by Skills for Care.
So in a bid to boost the number of young care workers in the area, Hertfordshire County Council has set up a trainee programme for young people aged 16- to 24-years-old who want to work in health and social care.
While the programme is open to all, the council decided to focus it particularly on young people who are not in education, employment or training (Neet).
Craig Watkins, learning and development officer for adults and children's social care at the council, believes the scheme to be "unique" because it incorporates the best elements from traineeships and apprenticeships.
"There are lots of people who fall between the gap and we're trying to capture those people by carrying out this programme, which is almost taking the same structure as an apprenticeship but incorporating the skills of a traineeship."
The one-year programme was developed to support the recruitment and development of high-quality and motivated young people who can work towards becoming qualified care workers.
Participants start by taking part in a two-week skills for caring induction course, where they can build on their knowledge and skills, and attend training courses by internal and external providers before attending up to four work placements throughout the year.
Furthermore, participants not only gain a qualification, but take home wages of £110 a week, receive six weeks paid holiday and get post qualifying support after completing the programme, so they can gain social care employment immediately or move onto the next level of training.
"Many of our applicants have already been through the childcare route and found it wasn't for them, so now they're experiencing adult social care environments," he adds.
"Once they've finished the programme, the ultimate aim is to retain them and hopefully move them onto the full Level 2 apprenticeship or look for routes straight into employment."
This year is the first time the programme has been rolled out solely by the council, and it follows a two-year pilot scheme in Stevenage and Hemel Hempstead in conjunction with The Health Care Providers Association.
Bex Taylor, aged 21 from Stevenage, left school in 2010, but failed to complete three college courses and left a job in retail after six months.
Unemployed and visiting the Jobcentre, she met one of the programme's learning and development officers who "sold" the scheme to her and convinced her to apply.
"I've done some befriending before - my friend's sister is disabled, so I've spent time with her and taken her out," she says. "But I never thought about care as work, even though it is something that comes quite naturally to me."
"The placements are so different. I've enjoyed all of the places I've visited. I've noticed that there is always a shining star - the one person who makes you feel loved and looks after you."
Taylor admits that care work, especially among her generation, has a bad image, but says she would encourage other young people to try it out.
"My friends think that I wipe bums, and I do think that puts people off, but care isn't about that, there's loads more to it," she says.
"The good thing about the programme is you get to experience everything, so you learn about the different aspects of care as well as about how to manage things outside of work such as money and budgeting.
"Everyone is naturally caring in some way, plus it's a great way to learn something new," she adds.
Taylor is about the finish the programme and will move on to a Level 2 apprenticeship at the council.
Watkins says the programme is now looking to expand across the county.
"The idea is to hopefully expand the programme to take up to a maximum of 20 applicants per year and maybe split groups between two different areas," he says.
"But we'll go wherever the demand is, so in the future we'll look to move into an area that we haven't been to before and if there is a need and a demand in that area, then that's where we'll be going next."
To find out more about the programme, visit www.hertsdirect.org/ your-community/news/HSCTraineeProgramme/
