The National Induction Framework for adult social care in Scotland

Background: To help address ongoing recruitment and retention issues in the adult social care workforce, the Scottish Government commissioned the development of a National Induction Framework (NIF) for adult social care. This was to include a portable learning record to allow workers to move employers without having to duplicate induction learning. Effective induction has been shown to positively influence workforce turnover, job satisfaction, organisational commitment, task performance, and employee wellbeing.

 

Approach: Development of the NIF, a collaborative project between NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), involved extensive stakeholder engagement including a Delphi technique, to define essential induction training content. Stakeholder involvement was essential to facilitate employer adoption of the NIF.

 

 Key development stages included:

1.Establishing sector appetite for a NIF and potential challenges. Stakeholder discussions identified strong interest along with a need for robust quality assurance of and easy access to learning materials; a set of standards to reduce variation in implementation; completion tracking; a portable learning record.

2.Identifying essential induction content through a) initial stakeholder engagement reviewing current practices b) analysis of UK-wide induction frameworks c) a Delphi technique collaborating with stakeholders to gain consensus on essential NIF topics. This approach allowed wide engagement with stakeholders in a time efficient manner, essential for this time poor workforce.

3.Selecting the most suitable platform to host the NIF, considering resource housing and learning record integration.

4.The development of a portable learning record enabling workers to demonstrate prior learning with new employers. This involved innovating an Application Programmer Interface allowing the NES Learning Management Platform to share leaner data with the SSSC MyLearning app.

5.Developing the landing site, induction standards, learning outcomes and high-quality resources.

6.Piloting the framework.

7.Official launch.

 

Impact and Outcomes :Social care employers from 30 of Scotland’s 32 local authority areas participated in the Delphi technique achieving consensus regarding inclusion of 68 of 71 topics. These were structured into 30 hours of learning and aligned to the SSSC Continuous Professional Learning framework. Since the May 2025 launch, 1437 learners have started and 111 completed the NIF. The quality of learning resources is rated highly (mean score 4.65/5).

Initial survey findings (n=44) show 88% of workers would recommend the NIF and 80% reported increased knowledge and a positive impact on practice. Additionally, 92% found it easy to share completion certificates for learning, indicating strong potential for the learning record to be portable across employers.

 

Implications: Scotland now has a standardised, data-informed induction process for adult social care providers to use with their workforce. This initiative has the potential to reduce workforce turnover due to improved induction learning resulting in increased job satisfaction and organisational commitment. If workers leave and take up a new role, the portable record of learning prevents duplication of learning and combined impact allows more time to provide direct, high-quality care and support for individuals.