The Department of Health and Social Care has unveiled a new brand for care workers with NHS-style identity as part of an action plan to support the sector in England throughout the coronavirus outbreak.
This will be based on the existing CARE badge, which was launched by Care England and the National Care Forum.
The department said over 1.5m front line care workers will now be able to “unite under one banner to help create an NHS-style single identity to better celebrate and recognise the care sector”.
“This will make it simpler for care-givers to access benefits such as priority shopping hours, in the same way as NHS staff and will recognise the integral role social care workers are playing in responding to this outbreak and supporting vulnerable people,” it added.
The action plan also outlines plans to expand the social care workforce by tens of thousands through a new recruitment campaign that will highlight the role of care staff, backed by a new online learning platform to upskill new staff.
“To attract 20,000 people into social care over the next three months to relieve pressures in the care workforce, in the next few weeks we will re-launch our national recruitment campaign to run across broadcast, digital, and social media,” the department said.
The campaign will highlight the vital role that the social care workforce is playing right now, during this pandemic, along with the longer-term opportunity of working in care.
A new online platform will be developed to streamline the recruitment process for candidates and employers.
