Let’s get down to business: Developing a business case for a career academy

Recruitment and retention of the adult social care workforce remains an ongoing challenge for leaders in the sector. A turnover rate of 24.3 per cent in 2023-24 equates to approx. 350,000 leavers over the year. Training and career development were identified by Skills for Care in The State of the Adult Social Care sector and workforce in England 2023, as one of the top five factors that influence retention.

An emerging place-based approach to address some workforce challenges is the implementation of Care and Health Career Academies. Academies support local areas to think differently about workforce pressures. They aim to ensure that the social care workforce is more resilient by supporting the workforce pipeline, boosting recruitment and retention, and workforce development. Academies are implementing innovative ways of working and can work jointly across the sector to address skills gaps through coordinated training, development and recruitment.

The principle behind a need for a social care academy has been identified by many local areas and nationally. Our research identified over 50 career academies across England. Some are well established over several years, however the majority have developed since 2021 and particularly over 2023 and 2024. Many areas are in the early stages of implementation.

To support workforce development, the national Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care in England recommends that every area has a social care academy. The academies support the three core commitments in the national strategy, by focusing on attracting and retaining, training, and transforming the workforce. The wider benefits of academies are explored in The Why section of this guide.

This guiding document has been co-produced by Partners in Care and Health with Coco-operative and members of the Care and Health Career Academies Community of Practice, as an output from a series of co-production workshops. The guide also builds on the existing resources including the Career Academies What Good Looks Like (WGLL) guide and toolkit. The guide provides practical insights and advice from existing academies, to support local areas that wish to set up a career academy, in developing their own business case. It was co-produced with colleagues from different types of academies from across different regions, and wider sector partners. It encourages consideration of objectives and aims, key stakeholders and partners as well as the impact and benefits of a career academy.

We are grateful to the CoP members who so generously shared their experiences, insights and expertise. For further information about our wider work and the CoP, visit the Career Academies Hub. If you would like to share any input and comments or good practice examples, please get in touch with us.

A business case is a tool which helps leadership teams to assess the proposed project and guide decisions that support the organisation’s objectives. It should be a compelling document that clearly outlines the benefits of the project and justifies its selection as the best option. To be effective, a business case should be well-structured, concise, and tailored for the intended audience.

Below is an example of a basic structure that can be adapted based on your organisational templates, policies and priorities:

• Summary: Provide a clear and concise overview of the business case, outlining the objectives, scope, benefits and financial considerations.
• Introduction: Explain the purpose of the business case and introduce the need for a career academy, highlighting the current workforce challenges faced by the local area impacting on delivery of services.
• Objectives and scope: Clearly define the specific objectives, scope of the project, and expected outcomes.
• Background and context: To develop a shared narrative, clearly evidence the current challenges in recruitment, retention, and service delivery. Highlight how the proposal aligns with strategy, policy and service improvement.
• Stakeholder engagement: Outline involvement of all partners and stakeholders – including leadership, workforce representatives, and co-production with people with lived experience – to ensure alignment with diverse community needs.
• Benefits and outcomes: Clearly articulate the expected benefits and outcomes including system wide benefits, and how you will capture impact. Support your assumptions and recommendations with local data and intelligence to demonstrate what is needed.
• Risks and mitigation plan: Identify potential risks and include strategies for addressing them.
• Financial analysis: Provide cost-benefit analysis covering initial costs, ongoing costs, and savings over the short, medium and long term, as well as funding sources. Illustrate how these investments will strengthen recruitment, retention, and services quality.
• Implementation plan: Outline the steps, timeline, and resources needed to deliver on the objectives, ensuring equality diversity and inclusion (EDI) is embedded in the plan and governance structures to sustain impact.
• Alternative options: Briefly present the options considered as an alternative to an academy, evaluating them based on feasibility, cost-effectiveness, and their potential to improve workforce resilience, and enhance service delivery.
• Conclusion: Summarise the key points, reinforcing the importance of a local academy to address the workforce challenges and ensure a resilient workforce to meet current and future demand.

Refining shared objectives

Creating an effective career academy requires gathering essential intelligence and data, including labour market trends, information about policy and strategic workforce plans, and local and national workforce challenges. These insights are important for scoping and appraising what will work best in your local area, and are integral for developing a compelling business case.

The academies aim to address workforce gaps by improving recruitment, retention, and upskilling a diverse workforce. Our research shows that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach when it comes to establishing a career academy. Academies' approach and activities vary based on regional and demographic priorities, academy size, type of funding accessed, and specific aims and objectives. Whilst there are many different academy models, there are some key principles and benefits that can be adopted locally.

Developing a clear mission statement, aims and objectives from the outset in collaboration with key partners and stakeholders, is crucial. A compelling vision provides a shared sense of purpose, aligning all partners and guiding decision-making and long-term impact. The business case should outline how the academy will achieve its goals in the short, medium, and long term, adding value to what is already being done on the local footprint and reducing duplication.

The existing academies aim to address regional workforce challenges, promote social care as a career to those who are new to care, and create career progression opportunities for those who already work in care. The Why section of this guide draws out the wider benefits that were highlighted by the existing academies. In the Career Academies WGLL guide you can also find examples of the overall objectives set out by the academies featured in the case studies.

Stakeholder mapping

A co-production approach has been emphasised by existing academies as vital for addressing sector challenges like recruitment and retention. These challenges cannot be addressed working in silos and require a system wide approach. It is important to invest time to develop a shared understanding and approach with key partners and stakeholders. This helps to better understand and refine the scope, opportunities, barriers and enablers, and will help develop a more joined-up approach during the implementation.

Effective stakeholder mapping is key to ensure that a broad range of voices are heard and relevant stakeholders contribute to the academy's development. This should include diverse representatives from social care and health, education, and local communities.

Fostering strong partnerships and long-term relationships, will support mapping out what services are already being provided to build upon them, to address gaps and avoid duplication. Below is a list of potential partners and stakeholders to consider during the mapping exercise. The list is not exhaustive and should be tailored to the local context, and academy’s objectives and scope.

Partners and stakeholders to consider:

• People who draw on care and support and carers: Capture valuable insights into needs and outcomes.
• People who work in social care and health: Engage those who are part of the workforce and closest to service delivery to ground plans in practical realities.
• Leaders: Promote peer support, foster shared learning and ensure strategic alignment, include Directors of Adult Social Services, workforce leads, Principles Social Workers, commissioners and other colleagues from relevant departments (e.g. Comms team, Public Relations, Public Health).
• Local authority: Ensure strategic alignment with key colleagues, this may include engagement with colleagues from other departments for example, housing, transport. · Government: Engage relevant stakeholders – government influences national policy which may impact on career academies, including immigration policy.
• Health and social care partners: Engage colleagues who are key to the academy’s development, including care providers, ICBs, NHS trusts, Primary Care Trusts, Ambulance Trusts, GP Practices – to align with system wide workforce needs.
• Education and training providers: Involve education and training stakeholders that play a crucial role in workforce development, including schools, colleges, universities, digital learning providers and apprenticeship teams. Adult education centres, Further Education (FE) Colleges, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), digital solutions organisations including Virtual Reality (VR) and Learning Management Systems (LMS) providers may all play a role.
• Community partners and stakeholders: Involve voluntary and community organisations, mental health organisations, digital inclusion partners, unpaid carer networks, Health Watch, citizens advice – to support wider buy-in and system wide workforce development.
• Employment and job support: Include job centres, job support hubs and NHS employment services. SMEs, housing advisors, and youth hubs – to help address broader workforce development challenges.
• Equality, diversity and inclusion: Include EDI representatives to ensure inclusive and equitable efforts and processes across all the academy’s activities – to help reflect diverse population needs.
• Funding stakeholders: Consider possible funding stakeholders including local authorities, government bodies and philanthropic organisations (e.g., The Rayne Foundation).
• Established academies: Learn from the peer support groups and experiences of existing academies to build on their learning and good practice examples.

Top tips from academies

Some practical tips around ‘The What’ section of this guide are set out below to support you on your journey:

• Ensure strong links between the academy’s objectives and local workforce plans and strategic priorities – this helps to secure senior leadership buy-in and access to funding to achieve agreed priorities. It also allows different partners to come together based on a shared understanding of the sector’s priorities.
• A cross-cutting principle for academies is effective stakeholder management – engage key partners and stakeholders from the early stages, this helps to ensure better collaboration and more effective solutions. Do not underestimate the time needed to build relationships and trust across the wider system.
• Develop strong links to the health and social care workforce enabling co-design of the model and implementation.
• Foster safe spaces for open dialogue and collaboration among stakeholders to enable shared learning and peer support.
• Don’t try to do everything – be clear on the academy’s scope and prioritise projects and initiatives that align with the academy’s mission statement and importantly that address local and regional needs.
• Develop a scalable model, start small if resources are limited and build on it, take an iterative approach and follow where the energy is.
• Have a clear understanding of how the academy’s aims and objectives are going to be achieved to create more effective buy-in from stakeholders.
• Build on peer support and good practice elsewhere to scope what will work best in your local area – make use of peer support networks to learn from academies that have been on a similar journey and replicate suitable elements. 

The national Care and Health Career Academies Community of Practice provides a supportive and collaborative space to discuss ideas, approaches and challenges, and to develop shared solutions. For further information about the CoP, please visit Career Academies hub.

The established academies recommend developing a clear mission statement and objectives from the outset. This can be approached by addressing the key questions set out in this section. By considering these questions, you can get a clear understanding of what is involved in the process of development of a career academy, what approach suits your local context and what to include in the business case.

Academies highlighted some key challenges and barriers particularly around ensuring sustainable funding and resources, stakeholder buy-in and demonstrating impact. For further insights and advice on how the existing academies address these challenges, refer to the Career Academies WGLL which includes a summary of lessons learned and comprehensive case studies.

Key questions to address

Purpose and vision:

• What are the academy’s overarching aims, guiding principles, and vision for the future?
• How does it align with local social care and health workforce strategy, wider ASC strategy and priorities?
• Who is the support or service targeting?

Stakeholder engagement and commitment:

• Who are the key delivery partners, and what resources (for example, funding, expertise) are they contributing?
• Who will lead the project and how will mutual benefits and accountability be achieved?

Impact on recruitment, retention, and quality:

• How will the academy address recruitment, upskilling, and retention challenges?
• What difference will the academy make in improving workforce development?
• What impact will the academy make for quality of care and optimising care provision?
• What will people who draw on care and support and local communities notice to be different as a result of the academy’s work?

Sustainability and funding:

• How will the academy ensure long-term sustainability? How can we invest to save?
• What are the possible funding sources and arrangements, and how will they support ongoing operations? Evaluation and measurement
• How will success be defined and captured in terms of impact, value for money, and parity of access?
• What metrics will be used to track recruitment, retention, and workforce development outcomes?
• How will impact on equality, diversity and inclusion be captured?
• Which stakeholders are best placed to monitor and track qualitative and quantitative impact assessment metrics?

Benefits of local academies

To develop a robust business case for a career academy, it is key to outline the expected benefits and outcomes. This section brings together learning from our discussions and work with existing academies to draw out key opportunities, to support councils in setting out the benefits of local academy and strengthening business cases for funding.

Academies pool available resources, expertise, and creativity by partnering with providers, colleges, universities, user-led and voluntary organisations, local communities and people who draw on care and support. Academies focus on the strategic development within three key areas:

Recruitment: Utilising local labour market intelligence and targeted recruitment, academies support more effective recruitment and increase diversity and inclusion in the workforce. This includes targeted support for the underrepresented groups for example, care leavers, younger people, older adults, ethnic minority groups. Through innovative initiatives like pre-employment programmes, and person-centred and values-based recruitment, academies aim to ensure that candidates are matched with roles that align with their aspirations, values and skills​.

Retention: Effective retention strategies, such as continuous professional development, help maintain workforce stability. Academies prioritise consistent quality care delivery and a supportive culture for the workforce, this improves job satisfaction and retention, preserves organisational knowledge, and enhances a positive perception of social care​.

Training and Development: Academies support the social care sector by enabling training and development programs that ensure the workforce is well-equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to provide quality care. Academies support a range of courses and certifications that cover various aspects of social care, from entry level caregiving techniques to advanced clinical skills or commissioning. Continuous learning is promoted through accredited courses, apprenticeships, and leadership training. Through market analysis and partnerships with educational institutions and providers, academies ensure the workforce remains skilled and adaptable to evolving sector needs​.

By aligning recruitment, retention, and workforce development with local needs, career academies strengthen workforce resilience, boost productivity, and contribute to quality of care and better outcomes for people and communities.

 

Wider benefits – insights from academies

The wider benefits may also include:

• Supporting the delivery of a local workforce strategy, and providing a shared infrastructure for local activities and initiatives.
• Supporting a system wide approach as an alternative to silo working – implementing a coordinated place-based partnership approach to learning, development and recruitment.
• Supporting integration across health and social care and amplifying the voice of social care.
• Addressing key labour and skills shortages by implementing a data-driven approach to meet current and future demand.
• Investing to save with a focus on long-term advantages and impact around retention and workforce development to meet changing needs.
• Driving efficiency and optimising resources, for example through one-stop-shop website hubs.
• Leveraging local opportunities and new ways of working including digital opportunities, community links and cross sector partnership approach.
• Pulling funding and resources, and applying jointly for grants to ensure more sustainable funding.
• Implementing a strength-based approach – supporting a social care workforce that is competent, well trained and operates in a strength-based and outcome-focused way.
• Developing an improved journey into the sector and accessible pathways.
• Raising awareness about social care career pathways and opportunities – improving the positive recognition of social care as a valued career, for example utilising ambassadors to improve the image of the sector.
• Supporting equality, diversity and inclusion to drive innovation and help address inequalities – supporting a social care workforce that is representative of the local population.
• Focusing on a sustainable approach to narrowing inequalities by connecting communities into education and training, volunteering, work experience and careers. For example, through values-based approaches, academies actively target areas with high levels of social deprivation to reach underrepresented groups.
• Supporting partnership working, for example with providers and strengthening direct engagement with people with lived experience.

• Supporting assurance by linking KPIs to Care Act and CQC assessment – helping to demonstrate that the requirements of regulated framework are being met, including requirements for working with communities and ensuring the workforce are representative of local populations.

   

Capturing impact

Capturing and evidencing the impact of your academy is essential – not least to strengthen funding proposals and secure senior level and stakeholder buy-in. To transform purpose into actionable strategy, organisations need to develop effective evaluation processes, breaking the vision into tangible, measurable goals to ensure progress and maintain momentum in the development of the academy.

Development of an evaluation framework in the initial stages, can help academies to clearly define their goals from the outset. This will help establish the impact that academy plans to achieve on its overarching goals.

Demonstrating impact has been, however highlighted by academies as one of the key challenges. Our case studies feature academies that developed a monitoring framework to evaluate their strategic impact.

Top tips from academies

Some practical tips from academies for capturing impact are set out below.

• Develop an evaluation plan in the early stages, to help you assess the impact of academy activities based on specific measurable outcomes and indicators linked to the overall aims and objectives of the academy. This should ideally be developed prior to starting delivery.
• Capturing the academy’s impact involves gathering and assessing both qualitative and quantitative data and outcomes. In addition to tracking individual outcome data, there is a potential for academies to define and demonstrate how they contribute towards the achievement of strategic goals, for example, through the development of a Theory of Change.
• Trak participant or learner journeys and showcase these creatively, for example via video case studies or interactive virtual tools.

For further insights and advice refer to the Career Academies WGLL.

Embedding equality, diversity and inclusion

The insights from the co-production workshops highlighted, the important role of academies in ensuring that the workforce reflects the communities it serves. Academies seek to adopt initiatives and processes that improve equality, diversity and inclusion. Those seeking to develop an academy should consider equality, diversity and inclusion from the planning of the business case through to implementation of the academy. 
 

Top tips from academies

Feedback on EDI has impact on a business case and implementation of an academy. Below are some key points raised by academies:

• Clear and robust equality, diversity and inclusion strategy: Demonstrate a commitment to inclusive access and capturing impact on EDI. Ensure the academy proactively reaches and supports people with diverse backgrounds and ensures people with protected characteristics feel safe and respected.
• Foster co-production and ensure that representatives from across the workforce and local community are involved in planning. Continue to check in with them during delivery and adapt based on their feedback.
• Develop recruitment and retention metrics that can evidence increased diversity of the workforce and where people choose to stay, reflected for example in ‘stay interviews’ and fewer job vacancies. Focus on the well-being and satisfaction of those who remain, with attention to why they stay and how to replicate those conditions.
• Support improvement in recruitment and representation – fishing in different ponds and adapting how we fish. Consider how to effectively engage the underrepresented groups, remove recruitment barriers and address bias in the recruitment practices to support a workforce that reflects local population demographics. Seek to implement processes that can support and evidence improved ethnic and gender diversity in senior roles.
• Inclusive workforce development and impact: Investment in learning opportunities like shadowing, mentoring, reverse mentoring and education ensures personal development. Tracking course completions, new employment, and the number of individuals engaged from underrepresented groups can provide quantitative evidence of success.
• Career progression: Consider how you can demonstrate impact on career progression by using metrics and qualitative feedback capturing the outcomes and number of people advancing within the organisation, particularly from underrepresented groups.
• Qualitative evidence and feedback mechanisms: Showcase success stories and case studies with people with lived experience. Surveys and feedback from academy participants can provide valuable insights on satisfaction, perceptions of inclusivity and fair processes. Consider independent evaluations of key initiatives and projects.
• Personalised support: Consider how to evaluate the effectiveness of tailored support for individuals, especially for underrepresented groups, and how this influences retention and career progression.
• Cultural competence: Ensure that international recruits are supported through tailored training in communication and inclusivity. Shift from passive to active inclusion by addressing biases, fostering open dialogue, and modelling inclusive behaviour.
• Link KPIs to assurance: Embed EDI in strategic KPIs and link performance indicators to CQC readiness, ensuring that the academy’s efforts contribute to higher care standards. Use specific metrics to track diversity, as well as feedback on how inclusive academy’s processes are.
• Raising awareness: Consider how to capture the reach and impact of promotion and communications campaigns on public awareness and sector engagement.
• Broader sector benefits: Consider how to capture improvement in the quality of care, reduced recruitment costs, enhanced job satisfaction and retention rates.
• Diverse by Design: PCH Diverse by Design for adult social care approach can support local areas that seek to improve equality, diversity, and inclusion measures within the workplace by embedding fair values, systems, and behaviours.

Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care in England

Career Academies Hub 

Career Academies What Good Looks Like including case studies

Career Academies Toolkit including case studies 

Career Academies Matrix 

Diverse by Design: a workbook for adult social care

Diverse by Design for adult social care - the community and workforce relationship self-assessment tool