About the client

Skills for Care is the strategic body for workforce development in adult social care in England. They work with employers, local authorities and professionals to build a skilled and sustainable workforce. As part of this, they support leadership development for social workers, nurses and other regulated professionals.

The challenge

There was a clear need for a robust, accessible tool to support leadership development across the regulated professional workforce. Existing methods of evaluation and feedback were inconsistent, difficult to integrate with other corporate systems and often too resource-intensive. Skills for Care wanted a system that could:

• Combine self-assessment with 360-degree feedback.
• Align with frameworks such as the Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF) and The College of Social Work’s e-portfolio.
• Be accessible to professionals from different backgrounds, including social workers, teachers, health professionals and voluntary sector managers.
• Provide reliable data for both individual development plans and wider organisational insight.

The solution

Hero worked with Skills for Care to develop Regulated Professional Workforce 360, an online feedback and development tool. Key features include:

• Multi-source feedback: Feedback collected anonymously from managers, peers, subordinates and stakeholders, alongside self-assessment.
• Framework alignment: Built around the Resourceful Leader framework and aligned with the PCF.
• Scalability & flexibility: Usable across multiple professions and organisations.
• Data-driven insight: Generates both individual development plans and aggregated reports for regional/national evaluation.
• Speed of delivery: Delivered within a two-month timescale to meet pressing sector needs.

The impact

• Ongoing costs have been lowered, with cost-effective design ensuring long-term sustainability.
• The system has been used by leaders at all levels, from first-line managers to assistant directors.
• Effectiveness has been proven, with positive independent evaluation and application across 23 children’s trusts, now adapted for wider regulated professionals.
• Development outcomes have improved, with balanced, well-informed feedback leading to tangible improvements in leadership capability.
• A flexible, scalable tool has now been rolled out nationally through the online platform.