Bringing learning to life

Chief executive Guy Helman explains how care training provider, Impact Futures, develops and delivers high-quality training programmes that add value to organisations and support learners in achieving their goals and nationally-recognised qualifications

First, can you give some detail into the vision and ethos of Impact Futures?

Our vision is to change lives; the lives of our staff, the learners that we support and the employer partners that we work with.

We aspire to bring learning to life by creating value-added, marketleading curriculum, which supports our employer partners and learners in adding value to their organisations, while helping individuals realise their academic, career and personal aspirations.

When did your healthcare focus begin, and can you highlight some of the courses available to practitioners and managers?

Impact Futures have been delivering apprenticeships and CPD courses since 1995. Throughout that time our provision has evolved to include all intermediate and advanced adult social care and healthcare apprenticeships, a full suite of leadership apprenticeships, including the Level 7 senior leader, a range of diploma-only options and our most recent addition to the portfolio, CPD and mandatory short courses, including first aid at work, basic life support and automated external defibrillation.

How have your training courses evolved over the years to meet the changing needs of the healthcare sector?

Our course curriculum is periodically reviewed to ensure it meets current government legislation and policy. In addition to this we can adapt our course content and delivery to meet industry or individual employer needs. For example, we commonly embed an organisation’s culture, vision, values and terminology into our schemes of work, to create bespoke programmes that are unique to that employer. Similarly, in acknowledgement to industry needs, we have created and embedded an CQC readiness module into our Level 3 and level 5 Leadership and management apprenticeship pathway.

Can you explain what a typical training route would be for a practitioner looking to advance to management?

For anyone interested in taking initial footsteps into management, such as a supervisory role, the Level 3 Team Leader or Supervisor apprenticeship is a great place to start. Covering learning topics such as leading people, self-awareness and decision making, it provides an introduction and solid foundation to a variety or management topics that individuals new to management, would have had little to no exposure of. What’s more, with an addition of our unique CQC Readiness module and an ILM Diploma, employers can guarantee a programme of learning that will future proof their fledgling managers!

For employees embarking on their first fully fledged management role, then there are several options available to them. If they are looking to enhance some core management skills but be on a learning programme that is still very much weighted towards early years practice, then the Level 5 Leader in Adult Care is the go-to qualification. For individuals who want to accelerate their leadership and management development by learning about universal management principles, models and theories, then the Level 5 Operations or Departmental Manager with integrated ILM Diploma is ideal.

Lastly, for senior managers, directors, owners, or anyone in a C-suite role looking to take their leadership skills to the next level, then our Level 7 Senior Manager with built in leadership residentials and Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) modules, is the ideal accompaniment to years of lived experience.

What are the

key problems Impact Futures is solving for the sector?

The healthcare sector is not alone in the day-to-day challenges it faces. Recruitment, retention and the rise in operating costs are quandaries faced by many of the employers we engage with across healthcare, childcare and business skills landscapes. There is no coincidence that some of those bucking these trends have an established apprenticeship policy and use this as a vehicle to alleviate some of the pinch points.

It is estimated yearly gain for employers is between £2,500 and £18,000 per apprentice during their training period. Done well, the use of apprenticeships can help a business mitigate a significant proportion of their running costs.

For example, by using a provider’s apprenticeship complementary recruitment service, you can reduce your advertising costs, decrease working hours spent managing the hiring process and increase your pool of prospective applicants, while ensuring only the highest calibre make it through to an interview shortlist.

By appointing apprentices between the ages of 16 and 18, the government won’t only fully fund the cost of the training, they will also pay you, the employer, £1,000 if that individual successfully completes their apprenticeship training. Furthermore, for any new or substantive staff under the age of 25 who are participating in an apprenticeship, you won’t need to pay Class 1 National Insurance contribution for those employees. There are also additional monetary incentives for employers who have apprentice aged between 19 to 24 years old and has either an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan provided by their local authority or has been in the care of their local authority.

As an additional benefit for smaller business with under 50 employees, the government will fund the apprenticeship training costs, up to the maximum value of the funding band for the apprenticeship (£7,000 in the case of a Lead Practitioner in Adult Care). For business with more than 50 employees but a combined wage bill of less than £3 million annually, the government will fund 95% of the training cost, however, you could fully fund the training by utilising the levy transfer scheme. Lastly, if you are a business with a total combined wage bill more than £3 million annually, you will be paying the Apprenticeship Levy and this money is ring-fenced to cover your apprenticeship training costs.

An additional financial benefit which is exclusively available to employers within healthcare, is the claiming of funds through the Workforce Development Fund (WDF). All our adult social care apprenticeships contain mandated diplomas for which employers can claim thousands of pounds against the WDF, all of which goes straight into your bottom line. So not only do you get the apprenticeship part of fully funded from the government, but you can also claim back substantial amounts of revenue via the WDF, for each member of staff that enrols and completes a Level 2, 3, 4 or 5 Adult Care apprenticeship.

Aside from the financial gains associated with apprenticeships, a recent survey carried out by 1,000 HR professionals cited additional benefits including: contributing to succession planning, providing existing staff with the opportunity to mentor and share knowledge, allowing employers to develop future talent, bringing new people into an industry, being the future of a profession, providing ‘home-grown’ talent and training which addresses specific business needs, offering fresh perspectives and bringing enthusiasm.

In terms of delivering services to healthcare, how do you set yourself apart from other competitors?

What sets us apart is our consultative and solution-led approach. We appreciate that every organisation and learner’s needs are individual to them, so we collaborate with the relevant stakeholders to find a way of working that matches their ambitions, objectives, or individual learning style. Similarly, we appreciate that sometimes we don’t always have an appropriate solution, so in these instances we will provide suitable information, advice and guidance that allows a client or learner to navigate their own path to their desired outcome.

The sector is going through a severe recruitment and financial crisis. How can apprenticeships help bridge the gap?

As part of our added-value service, we consult with both Apprenticeship Levy and non-levy businesses to advise them on the cost-efficiencies associated with apprenticeships. Despite the frequent use of apprenticeships in healthcare, not all employers are aware of the savings and financial incentives available to them, so we make it our priority to educate them on this to ensure they are maximising their returns. Only recently, we saved a employer partner over £32,000 overpaid Class 1 National Insurance contributions.

In addition to our consultancy offering, we also provide a complementary apprenticeship recruitment service to all our employer partners. For anyone looking to employ an apprentice on a permanent or fixed-term basis, we will provide industry insights and advise on how to maximise your chances of attracting the best talent, be it job descriptions, culture, benefits or salary. From there we can provide a full end-to-end service that includes advertising of the role, eligibility and suitability screening, as well as shortlisting. Alternatively, you can choose which of the aforementioned processes you would like us to be involved in.

What are your goals for the next 12 months?

We currently deliver training to more than 5,000 learners a year and work with over 800 employer partners to understand their training needs and develop and deliver market-leading curriculum to meet those needs. Our goals are to continue to impact more lives and support more employer partners and learners to achieve their goals. Over 60% of our learners achieve with either a merit or distinction and we intend for that to increase. We want to continue to be a place where our staff can develop and thrive and in turn motivate and support employer partners and learners to maximise the outcomes of their training programmes working alongside us.

For more information, contact: Gareth Reichers, director of sales: 01753 978 521/07851 719 962; Gareth.Reichers@ impactfutures.co.uk