Digital Skills and Digital Leadership in Social Care

Technology is seen as a means of resolving the mounting pressures on the sector, delivering faster, more efficient, and better-quality care at a time when demand is rising and workforce supply is stretched. Yet the shift from aspiration to action requires more than investment in software or hardware, but also calls for people who understand how to lead change, build digital confidence in their teams, and embed new ways of working into everyday practice.

The government has made its ambitions clear. The Department of Health and Social Care's What Good Looks Like (WGLL) framework, published in 2023, sets out seven success measures for digital working in adult social care - covering leadership, safe practice, workforce support, and empowering people. The framework brings together the needs of councils and care providers into one coherent piece of guidance, providing a collective set of goals for organisations to work towards as they take steps towards digitisation. For care leaders, it is both a roadmap and a benchmark.

Despite the clear direction of travel, the digital skills landscape across the social care workforce remains uneven. Surveys indicate that less than half of care workers feel secure in their digital skills, with almost a third identifying as insecure or novice.

Research from the Centre for Care has found that while staff across the whole workforce are actively adapting to digital technologies, the pace and depth of that adaptation varies considerably, and that the skills already present in the sector are often underestimated or overlooked by policymakers.

This matters because the assumption that a widespread digital skills gap exists can obscure a more nuanced reality where many care workers are already building digital competence in practice, often without formal recognition or structured support.

The challenge, then, is to build on existing capability, provide the right training at the right level, and create the conditions in which digital confidence can flourish across the whole workforce.

Skills for Care's Digital Skills Framework offers a practical structure for doing exactly that. It outlines the digital skills care professionals need at every level, and gives access to a training database to help employers and staff plan and access digital learning to build relevant, transferable skills.

Tools like Access Evo, designed with the care workforce in mind, complement this framework by offering an intuitive, user-friendly experience that meets people where they are, reducing the anxiety that can come with adopting new technology.

Digital leadership in social care inspires others to embrace it, managing the change it brings, and ensuring that digital tools genuinely improve outcomes for the people receiving care.

The National Care Forum's Digital Leadership Programme describes it well, saying that good digital leadership means discovering what it really means to lead digitally and why it is so crucial in adult social care, while getting up to speed with current and emerging technology solutions that can revolutionise a team's work and deliver better experiences for those who draw on services.

Recognising the importance of this, the government launched a new Level 5 Award in Understanding Digital Leadership in Adult Social Care from April 2025. Developed by Skills for Care and funded through the Learning and Development Support Scheme (LDSS), the qualification is designed to support adult social care leaders and managers to develop the confidence and capability to lead digital transformation. It addresses the demand for more support in understanding how to identify and implement technology, manage digital change, and upskill teams.

The qualification covers three core areas, like the use of technology and data, implementing technology, and leading change, learning and improvement in adult social care.
For registered managers, senior practitioners, and team leaders, it provides a pathway to develop the skills needed to drive meaningful digital change in order to embed a culture in which digital thinking becomes second nature.

Progress is real, but some barriers still remain. Many frontline care workers report hesitation or uncertainty when using digital tools, and without carefully designed strategies to address these barriers, the shift from analogue to digital risks deepening existing inequalities.

Digital skills and access to technology are barriers that can impact people who draw on social care, including older people and people with disabilities, meaning that the digital journey must always keep the people at the heart of care firmly in view.

There are also some structural challenges, like the complexity of procurement, the cost of training, and the pressure of day-to-day care delivery can all make it difficult for providers to prioritise digital development. The announced Level 5 digital leadership qualification has been welcomed as a positive step, but some providers have raised concerns about the gap between training costs and the reimbursement available through the LDSS which is a reminder that investment in digital skills must be matched by practical, accessible support.

Trust and transparency are other considerations as digital transformation continues at pace, policymakers, care providers, and technology suppliers must prioritise designs that are clear, ethical, and explainable. Robust safeguarding against bias and ensuring high data quality are essential to fairer outcomes for everyone who relies on support.

The journey towards greater digital maturity in UK social care must be a shared one. With a collective commitment to learning, innovation, and a determination to keep people at the heart of care, technology can become a powerful ally to today's care professionals, and an enabler of better outcomes.

That journey is made significantly easier when the technology itself is designed to support, rather than challenge, the people using it.

Access Evo is built with this in mind, as an intuitive platform that works with the grain of how care teams operate, reducing administrative burden, surfacing the right information at the right time, and supporting leaders to make confident, data-informed decisions. Whether an organisation is just beginning its digital journey or looking to deepen its digital maturity, Access Evo provides the kind of intelligent, accessible support that makes change achievable. In a sector where every minute counts and every decision matters, having the right digital foundation is a necessity.