Information for employers
Proud to Care South Gloucestershire is being co-ordinated by South Gloucestershire Council and is part of the Proud to Care South West campaign, aimed to support providers with recruitment and retention.
The regional and local Proud to Care campaigns direct people to the Proud to Care South Gloucestershire website. The site has been set up so that job seekers are able to search for providers within their local area. This process also directs users to your website job pages, allowing them to directly apply for current vacancies within your organisation.
In addition to support with recruitment, the Proud to Care team also provide retention support via signposting to training opportunities, wellbeing events and tools to support value-based recruitment and retention.
The King's Trust Social Care Recruitment support
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The King’s Trust are proud to offer free training, mentoring, and funding opportunities designed to help young people begin meaningful careers in Health and Social Care.
Since 2019, they’ve supported thousands of 16 to 30-year-olds into roles across the Health and Social Care sector. By working closely with hundreds of hospitals, care homes, and healthcare organisations across the UK, they’ve helped place young people into vital entry-level roles such as care assistants, administrative support, and emergency call handlers.
They are keen to connect with more Social Care providers across BNSSG to support recruitment, meet growing workforce demands, and build a pipeline of passionate, skilled young professionals for the future.
If you are interested in collaborating with the King’s Trust to support recruitment, please contact proudtocare@southglos.gov.uk.
BNSSG Sponsorship Recruitment Scheme - Free Scheme for Care Providers
Care and Support West are working with Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire councils to offer support and advice to local care providers who have sponsor licences, or are in the process of applying.
What is the aim of this scheme?
Over recent months, Care and Support West has spoken to a number of providers who have sponsor licenses. From their feedback, many benefits were apparent. However, they also identified some challenges which highlighted that support is needed for both care providers and international workers.
In view of this, we have worked with our local BNSSG councils to put together a scheme which will give care providers who have a sponsor licence, or who have applied for one, access a range of offers to support for themselves and their international workers.
It will also provide ongoing feedback from care providers to Care and Support West and the three councils to help ensure that the support being offered is the most relevant and useful it could be.
The funding for this scheme has been made available from the government’s International recruitment fund for the Adult Social Care allocation to the BNSSG councils. This scheme has been running for over 18 months now, and will continue to run through to December 2026.
What support does the scheme offer?
- FREE webinars – with the latest information and sponsorship and immigration news
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FREE cultural awareness training for sponsored care workers
- FREE Virtual Support Network Sessions
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FREE monthly legal updates
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FREE access to 30 minutes individual advice from a specialist solicitor (subject to availability)
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FREE guidance from C&SW project staff about the support options available that could be best for your organisation
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FREE monthly newsletters
Sponsorship Recruitment - Knowledge webinars
We are pleased to announce that Lifted will continue to support our knowledge webinars up to the end of 2026, and are working with us to put together helpful and knowledgeable webinars to continue to support your sponsorship journey.
Compliance is, and will always be, an area of sponsorship which can be a concern, so this will feature in upcoming sessions.
The next sessions for care providers are:
Understanding Your Sponsored Workforce – Payroll Obligations – Wednesday 12th August 10:00 – 11:30
Self – Auditing your SMS and keeping your CoSs safe! – Thursday 15th October 10:00 – 11:30
Cultural Awareness Training
Do you have sponsored workers who could benefit from free additional support/training on delivering care in UK care sector?
Sponsored workers join your organisation with a range of caring skills which you need, but may have little experience of working specifically in the UK care sector. The way we deliver person centred care could be a new way of working or you may feel that they need some extra support with how they record care within your setting.
ASH Training are providing this FREE all-day training session to sponsored care workers across locations in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.
A certificate will be issued on completion of the training. As an accredited course – this training can be included as part of ongoing professional development for your sponsored workers.
What will the training cover?
- How we provide adult social care in the UK – general principles of social care, and relevant legislation, as well as the role of the NHS and CQC
- How we deliver care with dignity and respect – person-centred care with choice and consent
- How we deliver activities of daily living (ADLs) – positive relationships and professional boundaries
- How we communicate – the importance of good communication, and cultural awareness when we deliver care
- How we record the care given – accountability and duty of care, clear and accurate record keeping along with confidentiality
- How we support and care for people with specific support needs such as dementia, or learning difficulties
**New training dates coming soon**
Employers Pack
In this pack we summarise:
- Proud to Care: recent and planned campaigns
- Market research: insight into what job seekers are looking for
- Resources: suggestions, materials and templates to help you market your vacancies using the power of your own social networks.
Why is retention so important within social care?
Skills for Care identified five factors that are key to retaining adult social care staff. They are:
- Being paid more than the minimum wage
- Not being on a zero-hours contract
- Being able to work full time
- Being able to access training
- Having a relevant qualification.
Where none of these factors apply, care workers are more than twice as likely to leave their jobs than when all five factors apply – a 48.7% turnover rate compared with 20.6%. Implementing these factors should make it easier for the people who love what they do to stay, by improving terms and conditions and investing in their career development.
What is value-based recruitment?
Value-based recruitment is an approach which focusses on recruiting people with values, behaviours and attitudes that align with those of the workplace.
View the Skills for Care, values – based recruitment toolkilt.
Values-based recruitment (skillsforcare.org.uk)
For tailored support, contact Skills for Care South Glos Locality Manager, Skills for Care locality manager covering South Gloucestershire.
How can I help to develop employees skills?
Investing in your people and nurturing their talents will help you tackle skills gaps and recruit and retain the right people. Skills West is a partnership between Business West and Western Training Provider Network (WTPN). Skills advisors provide free, impartial advice and can help negotiate the right training for your business, including access to government funding incentives.
Skills for Care can also provide advice and link you up with government workforce development funding. Contact Skills for Care South Glos Locality Manager for details.
Inspiring the next generation
Only 10% of the adult social care workforce is under twenty five. There are a range of opportunities to challenge misconceptions and attract more young people with the right values into care.
- Free, impartial Apprenticeship advice from Skills West
- Graduate Management Programme on Skills for Care
We work closely with local universities and education providers to encourage students to choose care and support work to supplement their income. By providing opportunities for students over evenings, weekends and holiday periods, you will be gaining a committed workforce that is willing to work when others ask for time off.
Provider search function
If you would like your organisation to feature within the Proud to Care search function, please email: proudtocare@southglos.gov.uk.
Once we update the site with your details, users will be able to access your live vacancies, directly via your website.