Workforce Development Fund

DCHC has been selected as the lead WDF administrator for Devon. WDF is the primary funding source from Skills for Care and is dedicated funding to support the development of social care employees. What this means is that you will be able to apply for funding to participate in training directly through DCHC for the 23/24 funding year. We intend to make this process as streamlined as possible to help as many of you access these funds as we can. One of the key eligibility requirements to be able to access these funds is that your home updates your information on the National Minimum Data Set (NMDS). It is mandatory that this is completed; without it, your home will be deemed ineligible. 

Please note that the WDF will be scaled down in 2024-25. It will only be possible to claim WDF for learning which is already in progress. This means that qualifications and courses which start on or before 31st March 2024 will be eligible for the WDF as long as the learner completes and the certificate is issued by 31st March 2025. This is to ensure that employers who have already paid for learning and development are not left out of pocket. Courses and qualifications which start on or after 1st April 2024 will not be eligible for funding through the WDF.

The DHSC has published guidance about the new learning and development fund, which will be launched in the summer: The Adult Social Care Training and Development Fund. Further information can be found on the Skills for Care website, www.skillsforcare.org.uk/fundingupdate. Any queries relating to the new fund should be directed to ASCreimbursement@dhsc.gov.uk.

FAQs

This page contains information that explains the Workforce Development Fund (WDF). It outlines eligibility and evidence requirements for the 23/24 funding year. If you are learning about WDF for the first time or are preparing to lodge your first claim, read this page first.

Click here for information explaining how to submit your claim for reimbursement from the WDF through Devon Care Homes Collaborative (DCHC).

What is the Workforce Development Fund (WDF)?

The Workforce Development Fund (WDF) for 2023-24 is a retrospective funding stream from the Department of Health and Social Care disseminated by Skills for Care. This means that an employer must have directly incurred costs for the qualifications or learning undertaken by their staff before a claim is made through WDF on completion of the learning. The fund focuses on the achievement of qualifications, learning programmes and digital learning modules and supports the continuing professional development of staff across the adult social care sector in England. In 2023-24 WDF will respond to a key sector priority:

Additional support to registered managers and service managers as this is key to providing quality care. Enhanced funding will continue to be available for completion of leadership and management qualifications and learning programmes.

We have recently received confirmation from the Department of Health and Social Care that the Workforce Development Fund (WDF) can used to support the development if individuals who have been recruited internationally and those who are working on a Health and Social Care Visa.

How do I become eligible for funding?

There are three things that you must do before you become eligible for WDF:

1. Complete a member’s Declaration Form by 29th February 2024 indicating your choice to claim your WDF reimbursements through DCHC.

2. Comply with the Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set (ASC-WDS) requirements by 28th March 2024 or be prepared to meet these prior to claiming funding. 

3. Have employees who have completed eligible qualifications, learning programmes or digital modules for which you want to claim funding. See the list of funded qualifications and learning.

How do I comply with the ASC-WDS requirements?

For a workplace to meet the ASC-WDS requirements for the Workforce Development Fund in 2023-24, the following three things must be completed:

1. A workplace which has completed an ASC-WDS workplace record before 1st April 2023 must fully update its workplace data by 28th March 2024. 

2. The workplace must fully complete individual ASC-WDS staff records by 28th March 2024 for all workers with a minimum of 90% of the data completed. 

3. Individual staff records completed before 1st April 2023 which are included in the 90% calculation must be both fully completed and updated by 28th March 2024. Once the above requirements have been met, a workplace will be able to claim WDF until 31st March 2024 for all learning programmes and digital learning modules or 31st May 2024 for all qualifications and apprenticeships. A workplace’s ASC-WDS account is expected to be an accurate reflection of its service and workforce. If your service or workforce changes significantly during the year it is expected that ASC-WDS will be updated. Failure to do so could affect your ability to claim funding.

How can I tell if I have met the ASC-WDS requirements?

When logged into your ASC-WDS account you can run a report to check whether your account meets the requirements for WDF. The is also a browser indicator within the ASC-WDS platform that shows if the WDF requirements are met.

Can I claim learning that has been completed as part of an apprenticeship

You can but you need to be aware of the following information, which differs between apprenticeship levy payers and non-levy payers.

Levy paying employers, this also includes employers in receipt of transferred levy funds:

The apprenticeship levy can only be used to pay training delivery and endpoint assessment costs. It will be possible to claim WDF alongside the apprenticeship levy, but it will not be possible to use the WDF towards training delivery or end-point assessment costs because the levy is used for that. The apprenticeship levy is a tax being applied by government so public money cannot be used to offset it. However, the WDF can be used towards the associated costs of training, such as the 20% off the job learning time requirement, wage replacement costs if required to release the learner to undertake training etc. Further information is available in our frequently asked questions. If a levy paying employer has used all of their levy and is accessing funding in the same way as a non-levy paying employer, see the paragraph below in relation to calculating the total cost of training delivery for those learners.

Non-levy paying employers:

Pay 5% of the training delivery costs and the government pays the remaining 95%. When calculating the total cost of training before making your WDF claim, the funds that you have directly paid towards training delivery (which may be a maximum of £150 on a standard capped at £3,000) can be factored into the total cost of training. The 95% from the government (up to £2,850 in this example) cannot because that would constitute double funding and that is not allowed. The total cost of training can also include wider costs which are directly incurred by the employer as a result of the learner undertaking training, such as the 20% off the job learning time requirement, wage replacement costs if required to release the learner to undertake training etc.

If you need further information about funding for apprenticeships in addition to what is available via the Workforce Development Fund, you can find additional information on the Skills for Care website.

How does reimbursement work?

Once a member of your staff has completed some learning that is eligible for funding, you should claim funding from DCHC by submitting the relevant forms along with a copy of all of your learners’ certificates. You must include details of any qualifications which are being claimed as part of an apprenticeship or declare that none of the learning within the claims is part of an apprenticeship.

It’s important to note that a maximum of £2,000 per learner can be claimed in any funding year. The funding year for 2023-24 is 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024 for learning programmes and digital learning modules or 1st April 2023 to 31st May 2024 for qualifications and apprenticeships. The WDF funding contribution is a maximum of the value set out on the list of funding qualifications and learning even if you have incurred higher costs than this figure. If you have incurred lower costs than the value advertised, it’s possible to claim a lower amount of funding by advising your partnership of the amount that you want to claim.

Qualifications evidence

To claim funding for a qualification a copy of the learner’s certificate must be submitted which contains the following information: 

• candidate name  
• candidate registration number 
• unique learner number 
• name of qualification and qualification number as per the list of funded qualifications and learning. 
• the date of issue of the certificate must fall within our advertised dates for the funding year, so 1st January 2023 – 31st March 2024 for learning programmes and digital learning modules or 1st January 2023 - 31st May 2024 for qualifications and apprenticeships. 
• name of Awarding Organisation 
• name of Learning Provider or centre number.

Apprenticeship standards evidence

The evidence to claim an apprenticeship standard is a copy of the learner’s diploma certificate to claim the diploma within the apprenticeship standard (full detail as set out in the qualification evidence section above) and a copy of the final apprenticeship standard certificate. The final apprenticeship standard certificate must contain the following information:

• candidate name
• unique learner number
• name of the apprenticeship standard
• apprenticeship standard code as per the list of funded qualifications and learning programmes  (this can be written on)
• the date of award must fall within our advertised dates for the funding year, so 1st January 2023 - 31st May 2024
• the certificate must be issued by the Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education (IfATE).

You can claim for the diploma once completed and certificated, and the apprenticeship standard at a later date once the end point assessment has been completed and the certificate for the apprenticeship standard has been issued. 

Learning programmes evidence

To claim funding for a learning programme a copy of the learner’s certificate must be submitted which contains the following information: 

• Candidate name 
• Date of birth 
• Name of learning programme
• Our code as per the list of funded qualifications and learning
• The date of issue of the certificate must fall within our advertised dates for the funding year, so 1st January 2023 – 31st March 2024
• Name of endorsed learning provider. 
• Digital learning modules evidence

To claim funding for a digital learning module a copy of the learner’s certificate must be submitted which contains the following information: 

• Candidate name 
• Date of birth 
• Name of digital module 
• Our claim code as per the list of funded qualifications and learning
• The date of issue of the certificate must fall within our advertised dates for the funding year, so 1st January 2023 – 31st March 2024.

Ready to lodge claim?

When you are ready to lodge your claim for reimbursement through DCHC, click here to learn how to claim.

Who can help me? 

• For queries relating to claiming the WDF please contact DCHC wdf@devoncarehomes.org
• For general enquiries about the WDF please email wdf@skillsforcare.org.uk
• For information about any other Skills for Care resources or projects or the ways Skills for Care can support you, please contact info@skillsforcare.org.uk  or 0113 2411275 
• For ASC-WDS queries please contact the ASC-WDS Support Service on 0113 2410969 or ascwds-support@skillsforcare.org.uk