Communities of practice support and development service terms and conditions

1. Eligibility

The service is for people who’ve started or are in the process of starting a community of practice to tackle a social care challenge. The challenge must be a social care issue that’s aligned to our Ymlaen strategy. 

Who's it for? 

The service is open to people who have a role in the wider social care sector in Wales, including at: 

• local authorities
• private or independent care providers of adult and children’s care services
• third or voluntary sector - registered charities operating in Wales
• Welsh Government Sponsored Bodies (WGSB) - Wales-based public sector organisations funded by the Welsh Government
• partners in other sectors with a key role in social care, such as health, housing or digital
• invited guests from partner organisations and other public service bodies across Wales at the discretion of Social Care Wales. 

Who isn’t it for? 

If you work in early years and child care, you may not be eligible.

If you're not sure whether you're eligible, please contact us before you apply. Our team are happy to discuss ideas and eligibility before you submit your expression of interest form. 

2. Expression of interest 

We’ll consider applications when we receive a completed expression of interest form. 

Participants will be paired with a community manager after their application has been discussed by a selection panel. You'll receive confirmation of your submission and selection by e-mail. 

Telephone bookings won't be accepted. 

Submitting an expression of interest form doesn't guarantee support. 

All participants must attend an information session before being considered. You can find details of the next information session on our communities of practice support and development page.

The support package and duration will be agreed with participants before the support starts. 

Submission of an expression of interest form confirms that you agree to these terms and conditions. 

3. Confirmation

Applicants will receive confirmation of their submission by e-mail, and confirmation of the decision will be made within 21 days. 

If a community manager is allocated to your project, they'll be in touch to set up a video call to discuss the support and arrange a schedule for when support will take place. 

4. Our responsibility to protect your data

We're registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office. 

For the purposes of this service, we collect and process this information as part of our legal obligations. Under section 69 of the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016 (“the Act”), we may give any person providing a care and support service advice or other assistance (including grants) for the purpose of encouraging improvement in the provision of that service. 

The information you provide is used for the following purposes: 

• process applications
• maintain a list of applicants
• provide a joined-up service with other parts of Social Care Wales
• contact you about the service
• keep you informed of relevant training, learning and resources relating to the service
• support activities
• promote the service in Social Care Wales
• provide feedback on the service and be part of its evaluation
• invite you to attend events and networks
• compile statistics for monitoring and reporting purposes. 

We may share this information with: 

• the selection panel
• individuals involved in providing the service
• Social Care Wales employees
• third-party suppliers involved in the delivery and evaluation of the service. 

We'll keep your personal information (including all successful and unsuccessful applications) for 12 months after we've evaluated our work. This means we can report on our activity and use evaluation data to improve our service. After this point we'll anonymise your information. 

If you'd like to update your details, please email communities@socialcare.wales 

You can find more informtaion about your data protection rights and how we process your personal data on our privacy notice. 

5. Applying equal opportunity standards to our expression of interest and selection processes

5.1 These standards set out the aims and objectives in maintaining and promoting equality of opportunity and the responsibilities of the community managers and Social Care Wales. The service, on behalf of Social Care Wales, has given its full commitment to the adoption and promotion of the key principles and working arrangements of these standards. 

5.2 Equality of opportunity is recognised by Social Care Wales as a fundamental right of all users and by those who participate in support activities. 

5.3 No participant, individual or team will receive less favourable treatment during the expression of interest process, selection phases, or support sessions, on the grounds of race, religion, ethnic or national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender reassignment, family circumstances, marital status or age. 

5.4 Equality of opportunity is acknowledged by the Social Care Wales team to be a positive benefit to learning. 

5.5 Community managers are made aware of their potential responsibilities for ensuring the promotion of these standards during their induction. They’ll be expected to be alert to actual or potential discriminatory practice by themselves and others involved in the facilitation of support activities in any way. 

5.6 Any practice which the community manager team observes or considers goes against these standards may lead to a community manager withdrawing their support of a project. 

5.7 Processes will be designed to support these standards. 

5.8 Any participant, group or individual has the right to raise formally any aspect of the support activities if they believe they’ve been subject to discrimination or harassment. 

5.9 Social Care Wales will, on a regular basis, monitor the implementation of this policy and the results of its application. 

6. Our language offer

We offer all our services in Welsh and English. 

We welcome applications for our service in Welsh and English. 

We won't treat one language more favourably than the other. 

We'll use your language choice to support how the service is offered to you. 

If you're not happy with how the service has been provided to you through the Welsh language, please contact Stephanie Griffith, Innovation Manager, at stephanie.griffith@socialcare.wales and we'll respond to your concerns.   

7. Complaints

If you're not happy with the standard of the service being provided, please contact Stephanie Griffith, Innovation Manager, at stephanie.griffith@socialcare.wales or Emma Taylor-Collins, our Assistant Director of Research, Data and Innovation, at emma.taylor-collins@socialcare.wales, or complete our complaints form.