Working With Colleges, Job Centres and Community Partners to Recruit Locally
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Commissioners increasingly expect social care providers to demonstrate how they will work with local partners to support recruitment, particularly where services rely on hard-to-fill roles. Partnership working is now closely linked to social value outcomes and broader system-wide workforce strategies.
These expectations also align with commissioner concerns about workforce development and retention, as partnership-based recruitment can improve candidate preparedness, job matching and long-term staff stability.
The role of colleges and training providers
Colleges and training providers can support recruitment by offering pre-employment programmes, sector-based work academies and accredited qualifications aligned to care roles. Commissioners value providers that engage early with education partners to shape relevant training pathways.
Job centres and employment services
Working with job centres allows providers to reach candidates actively seeking work and those exploring career changes. Effective providers can explain how they support job centre staff to understand care roles, values and progression opportunities.
Community and voluntary organisations as recruitment partners
Community organisations can help providers reach underrepresented groups, including people returning to work, carers seeking flexible roles or individuals with lived experience. Commissioners often view this positively where it supports inclusive employment and community resilience.
Managing safeguarding and suitability through partnerships
Partnership working does not remove the need for robust recruitment checks. Providers must demonstrate how safeguarding, right-to-work checks and values-based assessments are maintained regardless of recruitment route.
Supporting candidates through transition into care roles
Commissioners increasingly expect providers to support candidates transitioning into care through mentoring, shadowing and early supervision. This reduces early attrition and improves service stability.
Governance of partnership-based recruitment
Strong providers monitor partnership effectiveness through data, feedback and review meetings. Commissioners look for evidence that partnerships are active, evaluated and adjusted where outcomes are not being achieved.
Presenting partnership recruitment in tenders
Partnership-based recruitment should be clearly evidenced through memoranda of understanding, examples of joint working and workforce outcomes achieved in existing services.
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