Social care organisations across the country are celebrating after scooping Skills for Care Accolade awards.

Now in their 17th year, the Accolades celebrate innovation and excellence in workforce development, with all ten category winners having to show an expert panel of judges why they deserved to pick up this prestigious national award.

The Accolades are open to all of England’s 18,500 adult social care organisations, and 75,000 individual employers, which meant the judges had a tough time finding a winner in each of the keenly-contested categories.

The winners lifted their trophies at the awards ceremony at London’s ILEC Conference Centre, hosted by Strictly Come Dancing star Anton Du Beke.

Skills for Care Interim CEO Andy Tilden said: “It was a privilege to share in the delight of all our winners, who all showed some really smart thinking in how they support their workforce to deliver high-quality services.

“Given the high level of competition, all our finalists did brilliantly to make their shortlists, and it was inspiring to hear from them how they really support the learning and development needs of their workforces, which results in better services for the people they work with.”

The full list of winners are:

Best employer of between 51 and 249 staff - Community Support Services
Best employer of over 250 staff - Future directions CIC
Best employer of under 50 staff - Hendra Healthcare (Ludlow) Limited
Best employer support for your registered manager(s) - Leeds City Council, Adults & Health, Organisational and Workforce Development
Best individual who employs their own care and support staff - Richard's House
Most effective approach to continuing professional development for the regulated workforce in social care settings - Hertfordshire County Council, Adult Social Care, Adults Practice Development team
Most effective approach to leadership and management - Manor Community
Most effective collaborative approach to integrated new models of care - Community Integrated Care Learning Disability Super League
Most innovative endorsed learning provider - Springhill Hospice Education Team
Secrets of Success - Best retention and recruitment approaches - Lewisham Nexus Service

www.skillsforcare.org.uk