Welcome to the Care Sector Alliance: Cumbria website- achiever of the Skills for Care 'Winner of Winners' Award 2008

Care Sector Alliance: Cumbria (CSAC) is an employer led alliance that was established in 2004 to promote and support workforce development and qualification amongst Cumbria's voluntary and private social care workforce.   It has now expanded its remit and aims to support the statutory sector of the social care workforce as well.  

It does this in a number of ways which includes:

• providing funding for qualification achievement (induction, NVQs and Adult Literacy) for private and voluntary social care providers
• hosting funding rounds which support bespoke workforce development projects within private and voluntary organisations 
• managing specific projects which have the potential to impact positively on Cumbria’s social care workforce 
• carrying out research which will influence the work of CSAC
• providing information about local and national initiatives
• offering networking opportunities for social care providers and education and training providers
• hosting a themed annual summer conference
• providing access to the SCILS (Social Care Information Learning Service) and EILS (Education Information Learning Service) e-learning site
• hosting an electronic training database which provides information on courses/learning programmes that are relevant to the social care workforce.

CSACs work is formulated by the CSAC Implementation Group which meets every two months.   This group comprises of elected members from a variety of social care provider forums and incorporates representatives from mental health, learning disabilities, older adults, domiciliary care, alcohol and drugs, children and young people etc.   Also part of the group are representatives from the County Council's Adult Social Care Contract Team and the Chair of the CSAC Education and Training Provider Network.

To ensure a dialogue with the education/training providers that service the social care workforce, CSAC hosts an Education and Training Provider Network.   This meets quarterly and includes representatives from private training providers, Further Education, Higher Education and the awarding bodies.  

CSAC is part of the Social Care & Social Work Cumbria Strategic Alliance, a multi-agency alliance with a number of strategic agency partners such as Skills for Care, Job Centre Plus and the County Council's Adult and Cultural Services and Children's Services Directorate. CSAC also acts as Cumbria's Employer Led Partnership in the Skills for Care Network.

A WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT OFFICER  is employed by the Alliance in order to progress the work of CSAC.