Press Release

17th December 2009

The Social Care Institute for Excellence is delighted to announce that it will distribute £12 million of investment grants, supporting care providers who don’t currently have good access to the internet. The two-year programme will enable adult care and support providers to access information and communication more effectively.

Get Connected will enable improved access for staff, people who use services and carers, so they can use the internet to communicate, learn and train. Computer literacy, and the internet in particular, are transforming the way we communicate, learn and work. It follows on from the successful launches of SCIE’s Social Care TV and the Dementia Gateway.

Stephen Goulder, SCIE’s Workforce Director says:

“We know that these days good ICT access isn’t an ‘add-on’. It is essential if care and support organisations are to have access to knowledge and learning. Service users will also be able to keep in touch with the world around them. This fund will help provide the equipment and skills to organisations to deliver high quality services.”

Leading charities in the field Lasa and Charity Technology Trust are providing support to ‘Get Connected.’ Lasa will bring technical advice and resources to the project, whilst CTT will be managing the grant-making aspects of the project.

Online skills can be used in many ways, for example to:

• Enable people who use your services to keep in touch with their communities
• Improve the skills and knowledge of your staff
• Keep teams up-to-date with the latest developments in policy and practice

Computer literacy is a necessity 

There are around 22,000 independent sector registered social care services for adults in England.  Many of them are small private or voluntary sector organisations who do not have access to high quality internet or digital technology.  This means their users and staff are at a disadvantage in terms of access to training and development, knowledge gathering and full participation in the support networks available online.

In addition, The Care Quality Commission will require providers to register online from April 2010. Without good access to the internet, this may be challenging for some organisations.
Example of what will be funded

Janos runs a home care agency which is providing domiciliary care workers for an increasing number of people, so he needs to expand.  He wants to make sure that the quality of his care staff is high, and that they are up to date.  He does have computer access but only uses his one machine to do administration.  His staff could keep up to date and do some training on-line if he could find a way of expanding access to his ICT.

Media contact 

Steve Palmer
Interim Press and Public Affairs Manager | Social Care Institute for Excellence
steve.palmer@scie.org.uk | 020 7089 7117 | Mobile: 07739 458 192

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Notes to editors 

1. Get Connected information can be found here.
2. Get Connected Investment is a capital grant scheme for the registered providers of adult social care in England and independent sector organisations in England supporting personalisation in adult social care.  It will enable themyou to improve access for your users, carers, visitors and staff to information and communications technology (ICT) so they can use the power of the internet to communicate, learn and train.
3. The Department of Health has established a capital fund to enable registered care providers and independent sector organisations in England supporting personalisation in adult social care to access digital technology more effectively.
4. £12 million will be distributed in total over the duration of the Investment Project, in four funding cycles.  Each individual investment will be up to a maximum value of £20,000. (See Eligibility Criteria for further details)
5. Investment Fund: cycle 1 from January 2010
6. The Get Connected Investment Fund will provide grants up to a value of £20,000. Cycle 1 will focus on voluntary and private providers registered with the Care Quality Commission who do not have good internet access.  .Preliminary bids under cycle 1 can be made through the SCIE website  or on paper from 18 January 2010.
7. To apply, organisations can register their interest in the following ways:
• Sign-up for email updates,
• email getconnected@scie.org.uk 
• Write to Get Connected, SCIE, Goldings House, 2 Hay’s Lane, London SE1 2HB.
8. About SCIE can be found here
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