Dr Grace Krause from our Research team reflects on how and why the series is produced and explores its impact.
What’s the purpose of our briefing papers?
In 2024, for the second year running, we invited people working in social care in Wales to take part in a survey about their experiences at work. We also talked to social care workers in focus groups to understand their experiences better.
The responses from the survey and focus groups were published in Social Care Wales: Have your say – 2024 report findings. We also publish our annual data collection report, which gives us data reported by providers. These two sources give us a clearer picture about the social care workforce in Wales.
Both of these reports are long, over 150 pages in fact. So, we’ve created these briefings to help people who are time poor understand how to make things better for the social care workforce in Wales.
Our research team take the most important findings from both reports, as well as other data we have available, and make them accessible to a wider audience.
“To help make a positive and long-lasting change to social care, it’s vital that we coproduce services with people who use care and support and listen to the voice of those who deliver the service.
We’ve used our own data and research to create the Workforce insight series to explore key themes and topics that affect and matter to social care workers in Wales.”
- Sarah McCarty, Chief Executive, Social Care Wales
Making research accessible
To make the research accessible, we choose the data that we believe will be most useful to anyone working towards improving the situation of the social care workforce in Wales.
We then present this data in Cymraeg Clir and plain English and use other research and data sources to give readers context for the data. For example, we’ve included research from NHS Wales, the Office of National Statistics, and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to give readers a better idea of how the well-being and working conditions of the social care workforce in Wales compare in relation to healthcare workers and the general public.
We also include a selection of direct quotes from social care workers to show, in their own voices, how they make sense of their working conditions and well-being. Each briefing paper in the Workforce insight series also gives an overview of how we, as an organisation, go about trying to address the issues raised in the report.
Behind the scenes, we have a rigorous editorial process that involves many levels and layers. Our Communications team is a part of this process to make sure that the content is as clear, consistent and accessible as possible.
What can you find in our 2024 briefing papers?
As part of the Workforce insight series on Improving terms and conditions for the social care workforce in Wales 2024 we look at themes like job satisfaction, pay and reimbursement and type of contract. We look specifically at the use of zero-hour contracts within social care and how they can affect people.
In our briefing on Supporting the well-being of the social care workforce in Wales 2024, we look at factors that can affect well-being such as workload, feeling valued and things like bullying and harassment. We also look at how safe people feel at work and if they think there’s enough support in place.
How can the Workforce insight series help you in your work?
Everyone in Wales who has access to care and support deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. This also applies to the social care workforce.
Our own data shows us that many people working in social care, especially care workers, are struggling to manage financially. We also know that less than half of the social care workers who responded to the survey said there was enough support available to deal with stress.
The Workforce insight series makes data and other relevant information on the working conditions and well-being of the social care workforce accessible. We hope they are useful for anyone who wants to better understand and improve the lives of those providing care and support for the people of Wales.
