OT Support Workforce Hub

Working in a range of settings across health and social care and beyond, our occupational therapy support workforce includes those working in a range of non-registered roles aligned with occupational therapy or blended allied health professional (AHP) disciplines. While sometimes role, scope of practice and professional alignment are explicit in job title (for example ‘occupational therapy support worker’), our support workforce encompasses a range of roles such as: 

• occupational therapy/AHP support workers
• community support workers
• rehabilitation support workers
• senior support workers occupational therapy/AHP assistants
• assistant practitioners and technical instructors. 

The list above is non-exhaustive; our varied and ever-expanding support workforce is inclusive of all those in occupational therapy specific and blended non-registered roles that fall under the guise of many different job titles. 
 
There are also a growing number of our unregistered workforce advancing their careers through support workforce leadership roles and embracing opportunities in strategic roles within our broader professional landscape. Not only does this ensure accurate representation of our support workforce and a strong sense of specific professional identity, but also highlights career progression possibilities within the support workforce itself alternate to becoming a HCPC registered professional.
 
Our occupational therapy support workforce forms an integral part of the wider AHP support workforce.

Defining our occupational therapy support workforce 

Our occupational therapy (OT) support workforce is a skilled, experienced, valued and vital part of our OT community. They are essential to delivering safe, effective OT services in a range of settings across health and social care and beyond.  The OT support workforce are employed in a wide range of non-registered roles aligned with OT or blended allied health professional (AHP) disciplines with a variety of role descriptors including, but not limited to: 

• OT assistants 
• rehabilitation assistants 
• senior support workers  
• assistant practitioners  
• technical instructors. 

Our commitment to the OT support workforce 

In 2021, we joined forces with 13 other organisations to ask policy makers, employers, workforce planners and AHP leaders across the UK to take action to grow and develop the AHP support workforce. We’ve continued to work together on this to strengthen our voices and influence. The work we’ve done so far has helped us to impact and shape national workstreams where positive steps are being taken to address the calls for action made in 2021. 

All members of our OT support workforce, present and future, can be assured that RCOT recognise and appreciate our support workforce as a skilled, experienced, valued and vital part of our OT community, essential to delivering safe, effective OT services.  

We’ve listened to the stories and experiences of the members of our Support worker project advisory group, and used their narratives to outline our vision, ambition and commitment to inform our priority actions.  

We encourage the wider OT community to understand their role in achieving this vision. 

Our vision and ambitions are to:  

• ensure our OT support workforce feel valued, appreciated and part of the OT community.  
• recognise and celebrate the value, impact and scope of practice of the unregistered workforce.  
• position OT support roles as an attractive career opportunity with rewarding career possibilities. 
• make the most of opportunities for inclusive routes to registration, to ensure a workforce which is representative of, and able to meet needs of our diverse populations, 
• support opportunities for members of the support workforce to play key roles in leadership, service improvement, innovation, building our evidence base and supporting the development of others, including our pre-registration learners. 
• strive for parity across roles, levels of practice and opportunities for progression. 

We’ll do this by: 

• defining what we mean by the OT support workforce and their scope of practice 
• showcasing innovative and new ways of working to demonstrate the benefits, value and impact of the support workforce.  
• empowering the OT support workforce to lead, influence and support us to realise our ambitions. 
• supporting members of our support workforce to grow a strong sense of professional identity.  
• advocating for the growth and development of support workers in local workforce development plans.  
• asking organisations, managers and leaders to collect data to help demonstrate the impact of support worker roles. 
• using existing frameworks and roadmaps to help support workers meet their learning and development goals as well as creating profession-specific resources, activities and opportunities. 
• building OTs and pre-reg learners’ confidence and capability to effectively delegate to and supervise support workforce colleagues. 
• ensuring members of the support workforce feel they belong to RCOT through our activities, dedicated resources, development opportunities and membership offer. 
• providing a dedicated space for support workers to network, share and learn from and with each other. 

RCOT is committed to working with UK governments and relevant arm’s-length bodies to bring about change to increase the number of AHP support workers. We will lobby for consistent and access to continued professional development and take action to increase equality diversity and belonging within the AHP support workforce.

'To ensure everyone can benefit from the life-changing impact of occupational therapy,  we need to continue to build our support workforce. Support workers are key members of our occupational therapy workforce, and it is vital that we attract more people to this valued and rewarding role and that we invest in their training and development. Support workers can then deliver a wider range of universal and targeted interventions, allowing OTs to focus on working with people with the most complex needs. This will increase the breadth of our services and minimise waiting times, as well as providing greater role satisfaction for all'.  

Karin Orman, Director, Practice & Innovation

The aim of the Professional Bodies and Trade Union partners for the Allied Health Professions (AHPs), is to ensure that the knowledge, skills, attributes and experience of the AHP non-registered (support) workforce are fully utilised. They call for a UK wide commitment from employers, policy makers and workforce planners in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to take action to grow and develop the AHP support workforce.

You can read the full joint professional body statement via the PDF.

If you have any questions about our membership, please email membership@rcot.co.uk.

RCOT Career Development Framework

Associate Membership - If you have any questions about membership, please email membership@rcot.co.uk.

CPD@RCOT (Members only)

RCOT Library – (members only). Recommended reading in the library: Healthcare Support Workers: A Practical Guide for Training and Development by Richard Griffin

Supervision is defined as ‘a process of professional learning and development that enables an individual to reflect on an develop their knowledge, skills and competence through agreed and regular support with another professional’ (HCPC 2021).

This guidance below aims to help practitioners and managers establish healthy and effective supervision practices that will successfully meet the quality standards and strategy documents across the UK.

•  Supervision guidance for occupational therapists and their managers (2015). 

HCPC have identified 10 key characteristics of effective supervision. We’ve used these characteristics to design a Supervision readiness toolkit to help you evaluate your experience as a supervisee. You can use the checklist to reflect, action plan and as the basis for professional conversations to help you get the most out of your supervision.

• An interactive readiness checklist for supervisees.

RCOT Career Development Framework 

NHS HEE Support Workforce Video 

NHS HEE AHP Support Worker Competency Education Career Development Framework page

NHS HEE AHP Support Worker Competency Education Career Development Framework document

NHS HEE AHP Support Workforce Resources 

NHS HEE AHP Support Worker Case Studies 

NHSES Support Workforce Hub 

Health and care support worker development programme (NHSES) 

Social Care Wales

Health Education and Improvement Wales

RCOT Career Development Framework

RCOT CPD

RCOT Library - EBooks – members only. Recommended reading in the libray: Healthcare Support Workers : A Practical Guide for Training and Development by Richard Griffin 

Please refer to our EDB webpage that acts as a conduit for stimulating thoughts and discussion within our profession, from us, and very importantly from our members. 

FutureNHS is a collaboration platform that empowers everyone working in health and social care to safely connect, share and learn across boundaries.

Explore our library of case studies, helpful guides, toolkits and prospectuses to support your AHP career journey.

Buckinghashire Health & Social Care Academy  – the Faculty of Allied Health Professionals (AHP) focuses on the development, inclusion, diversity and welfare of professionals working in the Health sector.

Gloucestershire AHP Support Workforce Programme – his programme aims to recognise, develop and expand its non-registered AHP workforce in partnership with Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust (GHC) and Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust – provides a guidance for support workers, senior support workers, assistants and assistant practitioners who work alongside the allied health professionals (AHPs). 

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust – resources for support workers and vacancies

Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership – strategic collaboration of health providers, social care providedrs, voluntary, community and charitable organisations and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations. It promotes the AHP workforce within the Humber and North Yorkshire ICS (Integrated Care Systems).

Health Education England South East – provides AHP support worker networks working across Wessex

Aspiring Allies – is an awareness and engagement initiative built around raising the profile of Allied Health Professional careers.

AHP Support Worker: Training Resources- HIOW

This Padlet has been designed to provide iinformation for AHP's support workers on education, training and career development. It provides links and documents to and complete training and resources to support to develop your career. 

BOB AHP Faculty                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire & Berkshire West (BOB) Allied Health Professions (AHP) Faculty. Highlights workforce development projects they have colaborated on as the South East AHP Faculties.

Sussex AHP Faculty: Information and Resource Padlet                                                                                                                                                                         

Brings you the latest information on AHP workforce development initiatives across Sussex.