Evaluation of the Workforce Development Innovation Fund
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Three year evaluation of the Workforce Development Innovation Fund, 2011/12-2013/14
IRAS ID
159326
Contact name
Michael Lawrie
Contact email
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
14/IEC08/1008, REC Reference number
Research summary
The Workforce Development Innovation Fund provides funding to adult social care employers to develop innovative approaches to challenges they face in delivering services to their users, and training and development activities to their staff. The Fund is managed by Skills for Care on behalf of the Department of Health.
This evaluation study has been commissioned by Skills for Care. The findings will be used by Skills for Care and the Department of Health to inform future decisions about this Fund, including the sorts of projects it should support, what impact different types of projects have on social care service users, and whether the Fund is providing value for money. The study will also evaluate how effectively the Fund is managed and how this could be improved.
The method will include semi-structured interviews with the grant-holders from funded projects, a survey of staff who were involved in the projects, and the production of qualitative case studies on a mixture of projects from the last year of the Fund; the production of some of these case studies will involve short face to face interviews with social care service users.
Projects within the WDIF are diverse, and are related to the development of new types of training, the provision of training to new groups, the delivery of innovative service provision, and research into the delivery of services in the sector. Reflecting this, the direct beneficiaries of projects also vary, and include staff from the grant holding organisation, wider adult social care staff, service users, and social care organisations. Grant-holding organisations include for-profit and not-for-profit care providers; local authorities and local authority agencies; membership organisations and Charities.
REC name
Social Care REC
REC reference
14/IEC08/1008
Date of REC Opinion
16 Jul 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion