Community Catalysts recently learned that the rise in self-employment accounted for 90 per cent of all jobs growth during the recessionary years of 2008-13. Should these rates continue, the Royal Society of Arts predict that the number of people in self-employment could outgrow the public sector workforce by 2018.
Very little is known about self-employed workers providing social care and support including those providing community micro- enterprises. Self- employed community micro- entrepreneurs are a growing sector and Community Catalysts want to ensure that there are equal opportunities for learning, development and gaining qualifications compared to people who are employed.
The Department of Health is also keen to understand the career development, skills and learning requirements of people who are self - employed in order to help with service and workforce planning.
Skills for Care (the sector skills council in England for the adult social care sector) is working with Community Catalysts to gather this information. A simple questionnaire has been designed to develop a profile of self-employed workers and career-related needs; survey monkey is being used to gather this information and is here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CommunityCatalysts
Skills for Care hope to gain some really useful information from the surveys and would like to encourage as many self -employed workers who are operating in the world of care and support to complete it. All responses will of course be treated in the strictest confidence and any reports published using this information will be based on aggregated data only - it will not be possible to identify any individual in them.
The survey will close on 17 April 2015.