Who cares about skills? The impact and limits of statutory regulation on qualifications and skills in social care

Working paper

This paper examines the impact of statutory regulation on qualifications and skills in the social care sector in the UK. It draws on various sources and a set of case studies, first carried out in 2003 and replicated in 2008. The analysis shows that the advent of the statutory regime has had a positive effect on the volume of training and qualifications in the sector. However, few organisations have combined training with a broader set of human resource management practices. This constitutes one of the continuing limits to further skill development. Changes in the regulatory regime risk losing benefits which have been gained.

Authors: Gospel, H; Lewis, P

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: ESRC Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE)
• Series: SKOPE Research Paper
• Place of publication: http://www.skope.ox.ac.uk/publications
• Publication date: 2010-01-01
• Edition: Publisher's version
• ISSN: 1466-1535
• Paper number: 89, March 2010
• Language: English
• Keywords: social care sector; qualifications; skills
• Subjects: Vocational and professional learning; Education