Southern Cross Healthcare takes the Skills Pledge

On 14 June 2007 Southern Cross Healthcare joined other leading UK companies to take the Skills Pledge.

This high profile launch was hosted by Sir Digby Jones and attended by a number of government ministers including the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown and the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Alan Johnson amongst others.

The Skills Pledge is a voluntary, public commitment by the leadership of a company or organisation to support all its employees to develop their basic skills, including literacy and numeracy, and work towards relevant, valuable qualifications to a level equivalent to 5 good GCSEs – this has been termed level 2.

The Leitch Review of Skills, published in December 2006, warned that the UK must “raise its game” on skills at all levels if it is to sustain and improve its position in the global economy. The Skills Pledge fulfils a key recommendation made in the review with an objective of ensuring that all staff are skilled, competent and able to make a full contribution to the success of both their company and the economy generally.

This commitment took the form of a public signing of the Southern Cross Healthcare logo in front of the assembled audience.

Andrew Murray, Managing Director of Active Care Partnerships signed the Pledge on behalf of Southern Cross. "We know that the best care for our service users comes from a motivated and knowledgeable team. Training is fundamental to creating this team. We are very proud to be the largest public company in the Care Home Sector to take the Skills Pledge and make our commitment public."

Pauline Mcpherson, Vocational Training Manager at Southern Cross said, "At Southern Cross our focus has been to support and encourage all of our care staff to complete vocational training. With the Skills Pledge and support from the “Train to Gain” programme we have now accelerated the vocational training programme for ancillary and support staff."

Notes to Editors

1. Southern Cross Healthcare Group PLC www.schealthcare.co.uk

Southern Cross is the largest UK provider of care home services for the elderly and a major provider of specialist services for people with physical and/or learning disabilities. The Company's care homes for the elderly operate under two distinct brands: Southern Cross Healthcare and Ashbourne Senior Living. Both brands provide a range of social and personal care services and nursing care services for elderly people with physical frailties and differing forms of dementia. The Company's specialist services operate under the Active Care Partnerships brand and provide long-term care services for people with physical and/or learning disabilities and for younger people with complex forms of challenging behaviour.

Southern Cross is focused on providing high quality care in well invested facilities, seeking to be the home of choice in each local community in which it operates. The Company provides care services for most of the local authorities in the UK which, together with the NHS, represent over circa 70% of the Company's revenues. Its care home portfolio is largely purpose-built with a high percentage of single occupancy rooms and rooms with ensuite bathrooms.

Southern Cross has 667 care centres, more than 33, 000 beds and approximately 41,000 staff.

2. Skills Pledge www.dfes.gov.uk/skillsstrategy

The Skills Pledge was launched on the 14 June when 150 employers covering more than 1.7million employees made the commitment. All of the Government Departments were represented as were such companies as Ford, BT and Sainsburys. For more information on the Skills Pledge please see the above Website.

3. Train to Gain programme http://www.traintogain.gov.uk/

The Government is providing public funds through the Train to Gain Programme to help employers deliver the Skills Pledge in England. The core commitment is that the Government will pay for the costs of training in basic literacy and numeracy skills through the Skills for Life programme and training for unqualified employees to achieve their first full level 2 qualification (equivalent to five good GCSEs).

---