Workforce evidence in care tenders: how to present data that scores

Why workforce questions carry disproportionate weight

The care sector has 152,000 vacancies and around 30% annual staff turnover. Commissioners know this. Every tender asks about staffing because every commissioner has experienced a provider failing to recruit enough people to deliver the contract.

Workforce questions typically carry 20-30% of quality marks. Yet most providers answer them generically: “We recruit high-quality, compassionate staff.” That scores 2 out of 5. Evaluators want numbers, systems, and evidence.

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What evaluators actually mark on

The five areas

Area	What they want	How they score it
Retention	Turnover rate, tenure data, exit insights	Data vs sector benchmark
Recruitment	Pipeline, channels, time-to-hire, conversion	Specificity and realism
Training	Induction, mandatory, specialist, CPD	Exceed minimums + evidence
Supervision	Frequency, method, documentation	Regularity + quality
Safer recruitment	DBS, references, employment gaps, probation	Compliance + rigour

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Retention: the most important metric

Why retention wins tenders

High retention means: consistent care, lower agency costs, better CQC ratings, and reduced recruitment burden. It is the single strongest signal of a well-run service.

How to present retention data

KPIs that score

• Turnover rate — rolling 12-month, compared to Skills for Care benchmark
• Average tenure — in years, with distribution (% at 1yr, 2yr, 5yr+)
• Vacancy rate — current vacancies as % of establishment
• Agency usage — % of hours delivered by agency vs permanent staff
• Time-to-fill — average days from vacancy to start date

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Recruitment: proving you can staff the contract

What commissioners worry about

They have seen providers win contracts and then fail to recruit. Your response must prove you can staff this specific contract, in this specific geography, within the mobilisation timeline.

Evidence to present

Recruitment pipeline:

• Channels used (job boards, local advertising, social media, referrals, job centres, community networks)
• Current applications per month vs vacancies
• Conversion rate: application to interview to offer to start
• Time-to-hire: average days from advertising to first shift

Local knowledge:

• Labour market conditions in the contract area
• Competitor employers and how you differentiate (pay, conditions, flexibility)
• Specific recruitment partnerships (colleges, community organisations, employability programmes)

Contingency:

• What happens if recruitment falls short
• Agency backup arrangements (named agencies, pre-agreed rates, quality standards)
• Over-recruitment strategy (recruiting ahead of need, not just reactively)

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Training: exceed the minimums

The Care Certificate baseline

The Care Certificate is the minimum induction standard for new care workers. Completing it is not a differentiator — failing to complete it is a red flag.

What scores marks is going beyond:

• Induction duration: state your total hours (e.g., “5-day induction programme, 40 hours, exceeding the 12-week Care Certificate timeline by completing all 15 standards within the first 4 weeks with additional observed practice”)
• Mandatory training: list every module with refresh frequency
• Specialist training: dementia care, positive behaviour support, epilepsy management, medication administration — relevant to the contract
• CPD: how you support ongoing professional development beyond mandatory training

How to present training data

Training hours per employee per year: State the number. Compare to sector average (Skills for Care reports approximately 28 hours for residential care).

Qualifications: % of staff holding Level 2 or 3 Diplomas in Health and Social Care. Number of staff enrolled in or completed Level 5.

Completion rates: Care Certificate completion rate within first 12 weeks. Mandatory training compliance rate (target 95%+, state actual).

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Supervision and appraisal

Frequency matters

CQC and commissioners expect regular supervision — but “regular” is often left undefined. State your frequency explicitly.

Strong standard:

• Formal 1:1 supervision: monthly (minimum 6 per year for part-time staff)
• Annual appraisal with development plan
• Observed practice: quarterly for first year, six-monthly thereafter
• Group supervision or reflective practice: monthly

What to evidence

• Supervision completion rate (% of supervisions delivered on time vs scheduled)
• Supervision record-keeping system
• How supervision identifies development needs and triggers additional training
• How you act on concerns raised during supervision

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DBS and safer recruitment

Beyond the check

Every care provider does DBS checks. What scores marks is demonstrating a rigorous safer recruitment process that goes further.

Evidence to present:

• Enhanced DBS with barred list check for all roles with regulated activity
• DBS update service enrolment and rechecking frequency
• Two references obtained before start date (not after)
• Full employment history verification — all gaps explained in writing
• Right to work checks and record retention
• Probationary period: duration, assessment criteria, who signs off
• Policy on managing positive DBS disclosures (risk assessment process, not automatic rejection)

Values-based recruitment

Increasingly, commissioners expect evidence of values-based recruitment — assessing attitude, empathy, and resilience alongside qualifications.

What to describe:

• How your interview process assesses values (scenario questions, situational judgement)
• How you assess suitability for care work beyond the application form
• Trial shifts or observed practice during recruitment

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Presenting workforce data in tender responses

Structure your evidence

For any workforce question, follow this pattern:

1. Policy/approach — what you do (one paragraph)
2. Data — your current performance (specific numbers)
3. Benchmark — how that compares to sector standards
4. Evidence — how you can prove it (systems, records, audit results)
5. Improvement — what you are doing to get better (not just maintaining)

Common formatting approaches

Tables work well for KPIs:

Metric	Our performance	Sector average	Source
12-month retention	82%	70.8%	Internal HR / Skills for Care 2023-24
Average tenure	3.2 years	2.1 years	Internal HR / Skills for Care
Care Certificate completion (12 weeks)	97%	Not benchmarked	Internal training records
Mandatory training compliance	96.4%	Not benchmarked	Training management system
Agency hours (% of total)	4.2%	Not benchmarked	Rostering system

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Cross-references

• Building your tender evidence library — organising workforce data before you need it
• How to write to evaluation criteria — structuring any tender response to score
• Tender writing service — professional support with workforce sections

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