The Department of Health and Social Care has announced plans to help social care staff develop their careers.

The government is working with the adult social care sector to make plans for supporting staff development and wellbeing including creating a new knowledge and skills framework to ensure clear paths to progress.

Over the next few years, hundreds of thousand of training opportunities will be available for social care staff, as part of the government's £500 million support package.

The new learning and development opportunities include: financial support to help adult social care employers with the costs of continued professional development (CPD) for registered nurses and other allied health professionals and a new Care Certificate qualification, ending the need for care workers to repeat this training when they move roles. 100,000 training places for new care workers to complete this new qualification will be funded by the government. A digital hub and skills passport office will also be developed to provide a register of staff and verified records of skills and qualifications.

The new framework will lay out the knowledge, skills, values, and behaviours needed to work in adult social care, as well as setting out career structures and pathways for development.

Minister for Care and Mental Health Gillian Keegan said: "Dedicating your life to caring for others is not just a job, it is a calling but it also needs to be a career.

"We know how hardworking social care staff are and they deserve our support in developing their skills through training.

"Better training ultimately means better care for residents and a better future for staff.

Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care Deborah Sturdy said: "A key priority when I took on this role was to improve training and career opportunities for our hard working staff.

"Providing care is a skill which requires nurturing and if we want to retain the best of the profession we need to care for them too.

"The skills framework will offer progression and improved opportunities which all our staff deserve."