Introduction - Summary of the Academy
The Care Professional Academy (CPA) is an innovative platform designed to support the entire Adult Social Care workforce. It provides a wide range of benefits, for Care Professionals, Social Care Providers and Local Authorities.
As a not-for-profit organisation, CPA is committed to elevating the care sector by professionalising the workforce, recognising Care Professionals for their dedication and ongoing continuous professional development (CPD) and enhancing the sectors reputation as a rewarding and great place to work. Our mission is to transform the culture and attitudes within the sector, promoting care staff as true Care Professionals and advocating for their invaluable contributions.
Our Mission
Our mission is to provide all Social Care Professionals with a ‘passport to progress’, encouraging opportunities for growth and development that are linked to rewards. We are committed to supporting the elevation of the social care sector by ensuring Care Professionals receive the recognition, rewards, and career parity they deserve. Together, we aim to build a future where Social Care is valued equally, and professionals are empowered to thrive.
Our Vision
Our vision is to create a future where Social Care Professionals are empowered, recognised, and valued on par with their NHS counterparts. We envision a thriving Social Care Sector where every professional has access to a tracking portal for certificates showing career advancement, meaningful rewards, and opportunities to prove personal growth. Through our commitment to equity, professional development, and specialised rewards, we aim to elevate the status of social care, ensuring it is celebrated and respected as an essential pillar of our society. We aim to elevate the quality of social care for those drawing on services and ensure that social care is respected and celebrated as an essential element of society with a workforce that is proud of their achievements.
Our Values
We are committed to empowering Care Professionals by promoting equity, professional development and ensuring reward and recognition. Together, we champion workforce quality and take pride in supporting those who make a difference everyday.
Our History
The Care Professional Academy was developed by Hertfordshire Care Providers Association (HCPA) in response to The Care Act, with the support of Hertfordshire County Council (HCC); which states:
“Local Authorities had to be responsible and accountable for the size, shape and quality of their social care workforce”
HCPA is one of the country’s largest and most developed care associations, boasting products and services that have been recognised by the government, rolled out nationally, and cited in case studies for other counties to emulate. In 2022, the CEO of The Care Professional Academy and HCPA, Sharon Davies, was awarded an OBE for her vision and dedication towards the organisation’s work, hailing the contribution to the improvement of adult social care over the last few years, specifically during the pandemic whereby Hertfordshire’s methods were sighted as ‘Best Practice’ by the government.
Reaching across the UK
CPA has continued to grow and increase in size beyond Hertfordshire reaching out to over 12,500 Care Professionals and 500 social care providers. CPA was initially designed to support Care Professionals and within 2 years providers requested support with compliance and governance to meet CQC’s Regulations for staffing and training. The provider portal was released in 2022.
Cambridgeshire County Council joined us in 2023
Peterborough City Council joined us in 2023
Sheffield City Council joined us in 2024
CPA continues to engage with Local Authorities across the UK to offer the CPA service across the adult social care workforce nationally.
The benefits of how CPA can support local authorities & their workforce:
Implementing CPA within local authorities has numerous benefits for the Adult Social Care Workforce showing a clear investment to the individuals receiving care and the professionals delivering care. By purchasing the Care Professional Academy a Local Authority can provide it free to their entire social care workforce and providers which helps strengthen sector-wide relationships.
Compliance & Governance
CPA supports best care practices, ensuring consistent quality. Through the provider portal, training reports, certificates and training passports all of which can be reviewed during Contract Monitoring visits, supporting compliance, governance and transparency of evidence.
Financial Support
CPA helps boost financial wellbeing, offering Care Professionals discounts on everyday expenses, helping stretch their payslip further.
Communication
Authorities can use CPA to directly communicate with the workforce, share updates and gather feedback across the county.
Investment
CPA stabilises the workforce, supports best practices, reduces retraining costs, and accelerates onboarding with training passports as evidence. This partnership approach is essential for meeting CQC and Local Authority inspection requirements. By adopting the CPA, the Local Authority can ensure a well-trained, compliant, and motivated Adult Social Care workforce, ultimately leading to improved care services across their county and supports a county to build and develop an effective workforce strategy, also required by CQC.
Employee Rewards Scheme
You can provide savings, discounts and cashback to all your Adult Social Care workforce through Care Professional Rewards supporting everyone’s financial wellbeing.
Support your providers with their Recruitment and Retention strategies, as well as the development of their culture by valuing their teams. Access to 800 + retailers including supermarkets, holidays, travel, restaurants, coffee shops, insurance, utilities, electronics, fitness, home and garden.
Chosen by Care Professionals for Care Professionals
Training Passport
In Personal Development Plans
Reviewed in Appraisals
Portable, as Care Professionals move around the city or county
Provider Portal
View and monitor staff certificates in one place
Track and monitor staff training
Training report - plan L&D requirements, gaps and budget
Log competency assessments
Compliance, governance and evidence
Induction webinars available for portal administrators
CPA team can attend managers meetings and team meetings to support engagement
Training Passport
“Passport
to Progress”
See all training in one place for each member of staff:
To be used as part of contract monitoring visits
Colour coded for easy reference inline with RAG system:
Red - expired
Amber - due to expire in the next 60 days
Green - safe
Use as part of 1:1’s, supervision, Personal Development Plans and appraisals and for interviews to evidence training, saving essential budget by avoiding re-training
Provider Portal
View and monitor staff certificates in one place
Track and monitor staff training
Training report - plan L&D requirements, gaps and budget
Log competency assessments
Compliance, governance and evidence
Induction webinars available for portal administrators
CPA team can attend managers meetings and team meetings to support engagement
Employee Rewards Scheme
The Employee Benefit Programme
Supermarket discounts, cinemas, coffee, retailers, fashion, restaurants, airports, holidays
Available after uploading the first certificates indicating a minimum of 6 hours of training
The Provider Portal
Easy to access and use across all of your Adult Social Care providers
Your providers will be able to...
View and monitor staff certificates in one place
Training Report plan L&D requirements and gaps
Compliance, governance and evidence
Plan and analyse training for rota management and budget
Support governance and compliance
Can be critical evidence for Monitoring Officers, CQC evidence and Internal Audits
Log competency assessments to evidence skills, knowledge and confidence
CPA team can attend managers meetings and team meetings to support engagement
Range of resources available to share across team and in service, including presentations for onboarding and team meetings
Training Passport
Use in 1:1’s and supervisions
Part of Personal Development Plans
Part of appraisals
Portable as Care Professionals move around the county
Employee Rewards Scheme
The Employee Benefit Programme
Supermarket discounts, cinemas, coffee, retailers, fashion, restaurants, airports, holidays.
Available after uploading 6 hours worth training certificates
Training Passport
CPA offers a training passport that enables Care Professionals to manage their CPD by storing all learning certificates in one place. It supports job interviews, appraisals, skill gap analysis and professional development planning. Certificates are validated based on Skills for Care standards, and both Care Professionals and providers receive expiry notifications to ensure timely recertification.
The Provider Portal
CPA’s robust Provider Portal allows the Care Provider to have a global view of their organisation, staff training, upcoming management of certificates, and to carry out a skills gap analysis of the organisation. The portal supports the care provider to have easy access to evidence required to support their Local Authority contract review meetings with Monitoring Officers. It also enables the provider to be compliant and meet the regulations required for their CQC inspection. The training matrix feature allows for efficient tracking of Care Professionals progress of core and mandatory training, ensuring compliance and accountability, as well as notifying the provider when certificates are due to expire with 60, 30, 5 + 1 days’ notice, giving ample time and reminders to arrange refresher training, supporting their governance and compliance.
Whilst still valuing each Care Professional and their skills, providers are able to retain their workforce and measure their return on investment of learning via the portal.
Providers use the Care Professional Academy to enhance their recruitment and retention strategies through their recruitment adverts, citing employee benefit scheme and retention of supporting financial wellbeing of their staff. Plus, they can include the Academy in their learning and development strategies by demonstrating development opportunities and a supportive learning environment. Developing a culture of the Care Professional owning their learning and their certificates.
With the development of the Training Report this enhances the training matrix to set the report specifically to return the data as the provider wishes to view it. From the search options and exporting to excel they can plan their learning and development budget for the next 12 – 24 months, identify gaps across the whole organisation and specific locations, and manipulate the report to suit their organisational and service requirements.
To effectively assess and evidence the competency of Care Professionals, the CPA has included Competency Assessments into the Provider Portal. Whilst it is critical our workforce is trained, it is equally important they are assessed on confidence, skills in the workplace and implementation to ensure a continued safe working environment and delivery of high-quality care; whilst providing additional evidence for monitoring visits with LA, CQC evidence and supporting best practice.
Note: If the provider already has a good training tracking system already, they can simply opt to use the CPA just as it’s reward scheme for staff. This is a pick and mix approach.
Training Passport & Certificates
Getting you on board...
Engaging a local authority is a straightforward process:
1 There will be an initial meeting to discuss the detailed offer, specific requirements, and costings.
2 Follow up meeting to review, reflect and finalise decisions.
3 Completion of tender (if required) and contracts.
4 Seamless implementation focused on building key relationships to ensure open and regular communication.
5
Ongoing collaboration with the contract manager or external workforce development team to ensure smooth implementation including:
Launch event
Contract for work
Help with CQC regulations
Support you to achieve KPI’s and develop relationships with providers and workforce
A Local Authority investment costs only 67p per Care Professional per month (£8 per year)
Other services
With the introduction of the Single Assessment Framework inspections for Local Authorities, there is no better time to consider introducing the Academy and its many benefits and services in your area.
These services will ensure you are able to evidence how you work with and support the providers within your Local Authority, whilst also giving you the opportunity to talk directly to care staff.
These services include:
To view all our services scan the QR code or visit: careprofessional.co.uk/services
TEAMology TOOL
General Virtual Classroom Education Recruitment
COMING SOON...
The
Care Professional Academy App!
We are thrilled to announce that soon, we will be launching a dedicated App to consolidate and streamline the Care Professional Academy at no extra charge. The app will facilitate the uploading of certificates, provide access to your training passport, allow profile updates and enable you to take advantage of rewards and discounts available through Care Professional Rewards. This new platform is designed to make accessing and enjoying the Academy even more convenient for Care Professionals.
We are continuously collecting and analysing comments from the sector: The development of the app is a direct result of the invaluable ongoing feedback we’ve received from Care Professionals and Providers across the country regarding streamlining our current system.
Care Professional Feedback
I find The Care Professional Academy very useful. The fact that I can earn cashback and get discounts on purchases make it great!
Zainab Avinla New Shepherd Care
The Academy is a great platform to keep up to date with my training and stay organised with my certificates. The added rewards are an extra benefit keeping me motivated to continue learning and uploading my certificates.
Stephanie Armstrong Libury Hall
I really love the Care Professional Academy and the way it’s possible to download my training passport with all my certificates in one place.
Onome Mavis Erharhagen Oak Cottage Care Home
I like the fact everything is in one place and the benefits are really good. I always promote this to my colleagues and encourage them to sign up.
Chidiebere Nwbodo The Lodge Care Home
Care Provider Feedback
The Care Professional Academy has proven to be an invaluable resource for our care agency employees. It provides them with a convenient online platform where they can track their personal growth and set future goals. I would like to say it has contributed to our carers overall job satisfaction.
Laura Charles Time2Care
HILS joined the Care Professional Academy in January 2023 and has been enjoying the advantages ever since. Participating in this program not only provides our teams with fantastic shopping discounts but has led to a significant increase in our team members’ participation in additional training. This is turn, enhances their knowledge and skill-sets, ultimately benefitting our clients.
Mannion Smith HILS
All training which is completed in house, externally or by e-learning can be added after completion either by the staff member or by the training lead. When the Academy receives the certificates, they are validated, and staff go on to earn rewards which can benefit them for anything from shopping discounts to money off spa days. Our staff team use the benefits regularly and I have used my Tier 5 benefits for money off spa days.
Leslie Saint Blossom HCG
I give the Care Professional Academy an absolute thumbs up. On the portal, as an administrator I can easily access an overview of staff trainings, pull different combinations of information depending on need, as well as accompanying certificatesall in one place.
Shalom Jani Compassionate Plus
At Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council, we were looking for tools to professionalise the care role and incentivise the take up of good quality training. Whilst researching examples of good practice I came across The Care Professional Academy: This provided everything I was looking for. It has been a pleasure to work with the team over the last 9 months and to launch the academy for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough care providers. I have found the team friendly, professional and they most definitely ‘go the extra mile’. They are incredibly enthusiastic, which is rare. They have delivered all our requirements on time and within budget.
It is very much a partnership that is set up and they are as invested in promoting to care providers and providing the benefits the academy offer, to all care staff and providers. I would encourage other councils to at least take a look at the model and investigate the benefits it could provide to their care providers, especially in an economy where we are struggling with recruitment and retention in this sector.
Wendy Crosson-Smith Cambridgeshire County Council
Recognition of the professional role of our care workers, development as their career progresses and valuing their expertise is at the heart of the Care Professional Academy. This model generates confidence in the quality of training and progression, improves staff retention, is a cost-effective way of delivering learning and builds trust between independent care companies who can place reliance in training undertaken in previous roles. And of course, there are rewards to encourage people’s sign up!
Iain MacBeath
Strategic Director, Health and Wellbeing for Bradford Council and Director of Integration for Bradford District Community NHS Trust.
