Professionalising care consultancy: A call for standards, transparency and trust

Is it time for the social care consultancy sector to be regulated? This is the big question we’re tackling alongside Professor Martin Green OBE– CEO of Care England the largest representative of Care Providers in England.

For years, consultancy has been an unregulated space, leaving providers vulnerable to inconsistent advice. The Care Consultant Accreditation Framework (C-CAF) was established to change this by creating a national benchmark for expertise and integrity.

During a recent interview with Care England, C-CAF looked at the question around: does a one size fits all approach to hiring a consultant work? The answer was a resounding “no”. Every consultant has very different experiences and compounded learning, which means their knowledge base and specialisms can differ vastly. This is why at C-CAF consultants are accredited based on the specialisms that they select to evidence their experience, which helps care providers to search the free directory for an independent consultants or consultancy service that match their requirements based on the required specialisms. Care providers hire consultants for a range of activities, including help with registration support, crisis management, mock inspections, and support with factual accuracy challenges. But not every consultant can be the best at everything.

In the recent interview with Care England, C-CAF explored the viability of a universal approach to hiring consultants, concluding that it is not always effective. Consultants possess diverse experiences and accumulated learning, leading to variations in their knowledge and areas of specialisation. Recognising this, C-CAF accredits consultants based on their chosen specialisms. This enables care providers to efficiently search a free directory and find consultants whose expertise aligns with their specific needs

To find out more?

View our recent podcast at: https://youtu.be/piO9iL7pNMk

Join C-CAF and Care England on 5th May to discuss how to turn quality assurance into a credible, verified asset, that has the potential to satisfy commissioners, insurers, and inspectors