New wellbeing app launched to help stressed out care and education workers amid burnout and thousands of unfilled jobs

A new free to use app has been launched to help workers in the crisis hit care and education sectors look after their own wellbeing.

The pioneering product which will be initially accessed by around:- 140,000 workers, is the brainchild of Merseyside based Flourish, part of The Progress Group, which provides specialist training and staffing solutions to raise standards and the quality of care across adult and children's social care and education markets.

The crucial helping hand comes amid bleak figures from Skills for Care that show there are currently 111,000 vacant posts in the adult social care sector with common factors behind people leaving the profession ranging from burnout and stress to financial worries.

Government figures also show that, although down slightly from the previous year:- 41,200 full time teachers left their jobs in:- 2023 to 2024 with:- 76% of education staff who took a survey from charity Education Support stating they were stressed.

The Fostering Network's data also shows that 53% of foster carers have reported that they were experiencing burnout or poor wellbeing, while 33% of former foster carers cited this as contributing to them deciding to stop fostering altogether.

And in light of such worrying statistics, the Flourish Wellbeing app has been launched to offer personalised wellbeing support, helping workers in these sectors build resilience with tailored tools and resources to help address the issues they have identified.

Built into Click Learning, it provides personal, practical tools and tips, tailored to the user, bringing everything together in 1 place: a wellbeing tracker, trigger predictor, action planner, and expert advice; all available to carers and educationalists at the click of a button.

The more they use the app, the more personalised their advice and guidance, with areas covered including:- sleep, finances, anxiety, relationships and healthy eating.

Sarah Stark, Senior Account Manager at Flourish told us- "The organisations we work with are well aware of the need to look after the wellbeing of their colleagues. But unfortunately, funding and resources aren't always available to help with this. So, the idea behind Flourish Wellbeing was to provide this for free within an app that they can stay in contact with and use when they need it. If they have had a really hard weekend for example, they know that there is something there which can help them find more information, videos to watch or try some practical strategies to work through those challenges they're facing."

At launch, Flourish Wellbeing will be available for free to all existing learners on the Click Learning platform, totalling over:- 140,000 professionals working across the adult and children's care and education sectors.

Sarah explained:- "We know that people within these sectors are experiencing levels of stress and burnout, which in turn is causing a high turnover rate, with the care sector in particular having a vacancy rate 3 times that of the wider economy. There are currently:- 111,000 vacant posts in the sector, so we cannot afford to continue losing carers to burnout. 1 of our priorities with this app is to help the people we already support through our training platform be retained within their sectors by helping them feel more able to cope with the challenges they face, meaning better outcomes for the people they support,"

It is no coincidence that Flourish Wellbeing is being launched in January. Sarah added:- "Before and during Christmas, it can be tempting to push aside your own stresses and struggles, especially if you are supporting somebody else. But after Christmas and into this month, these challenges return, with financial difficulties especially at the forefront, and it can feel overwhelming and exhausting. That is why we felt now was the time to offer this free support."

Flourish Wellbeing is now available as part of Flourish's connected suite of sector built digital solutions designed to:- attract, develop, and retain people in the care and education settings and improve the lives of the communities they serve.

More details on the app can be found here - Flourish.Co.UK.

Business Secretary backs British scale ups with growth package and red tape review

BRITISH entrepreneurs, workers and communities will benefit from a sweeping package of growth measures, as the Government acts to invest in key growth sectors, slash red tape and ensure promising UK companies can scale up at home rather than being forced overseas.
 
Business Secretary Peter Kyle announced the new measures in a visit to Kraken Technologies' London headquarters. It comes as The British Business Bank (BBB) will make its largest ever direct investment to date using new flexibilities from the Business Secretary: �25 million into Kraken Technologies to help the company scale up and become a UK champion.
 
Kraken uses AI to improve customer service and billing for energy companies. It has 70 million global customers and may list in London following its demerger from Octopus Energy Group.

This's investment followed on from reforms to the Bank's mandate so it can take bigger, higher risk stakes in the UK's most important scale ups in sectors prioritised for growth in the Modern Industrial Strategy ensuring the UK retains its competitive edge.

The Bank will separately invest �50 million each into 2 high potential Life Sciences and Deep Tech funds: Epidarex Capital and IQ Capital.

Other measures announced that form a significant drive to simplify regulation; removing unnecessary paperwork, streamlining compliance and speeding up processes across key growth sectors. It comes as part of the Government's commitment to reduce the administrative costs of regulation by 25% and deliver a simpler, more predictable environment for business.

Business Secretary Peter Kyle said:- "For too long, Britain's most promising companies have had to look abroad for the backing they need to grow. Scale-ups that should have become homegrown champions struggle against a system that is too slow and too fragmented. This package changes that. We are placing big bets on the industries where Britain can win, backing our innovators with real firepower, and cutting the red tape that holds them back. This is what decisive Government looks like; creating an economy that can grow and deliver prosperity for all."

Regulatory reviews will simplify Health and Safety rules and streamline Farming and Agri tech rules, reducing paperwork, cutting duplication and supporting innovation while keeping essential protections.

The Government is also scrapping the Audit Reform Bill to avoid significant new costs for large firms, pressing ahead with plans to allow virtual AGMs and streamline corporate reporting, and launching a consultation on:- 20 January 2026 to speed up and simplify competition investigations; working closely with the CMA while preserving its independence.
 
The package also delivers the Government's largest single commitment to battery research and development: �180 million provided through the �452 million Battery Innovation Programme announced in the UK's Modern Industrial Strategy.
 
A strong UK battery sector is vital for net zero, energy security and future manufacturing, with the industry already supporting 10,500 jobs across the UK including:- significant battery hubs in the West Midlands and North East.
 
The money will fund R&D projects and investor partnership grants that help UK battery start ups and scale ups to secure match-funded private capital. The funding will go directly to companies, helping them compete globally while anchoring their growth in the UK.

The package comes ahead of the Business Secretary's attendance at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, where he will engage with business leaders and set out why the UK is truly the best place in the world to invest, with a culture of entrepreneurship, world class education and certainty for business.

Greg Jackson, Founder of Kraken and CEO of Octopus Energy Group, said: - "Over the past decade, we've built Kraken from zero into a true powerhouse. It now plays in a league of its own and is ready to spin out of Octopus; and with backing from world-class investors like the British Business Bank and Octopus Ventures, it's poised to grow even faster and cement its position as a UK founded, UK funded success story."
 
Jordan Cummins, UK Competitiveness Director, CBI, said:- "Cutting red tape and helping businesses scale-up is central to our collective growth mission. This latest package from Government is therefore a good step on the journey to helping the growing firms of today become the global leaders of tomorrow. Maximising the catalytic role of the British Business Bank and making big bets on battery technology are smart moves to keep the UK competitive. Businesses across the UK are now looking for more of this partnership working approach, particularly as we advance sector and Regional growth plans. This can help drive up firms' appetite for investment, as well as delivering the job creation and productivity growth we desperately need."

Stephen Phipson CBE, CEO at Make UK said:- "This announcement was a welcome stride towards enabling the country's manufacturers to scale here at home. Make UK research into SME manufacturers revealed that two-thirds have ambitions to grow into large businesses within the next decade, yet:- 4 in 5 say they face hurdles in accessing the finance needed in the early stages of scaling; it's good that these announcements move to tackle that. The move to reduce scale-up related regulation and increase the ease of navigating public support are both crucial steps in enabling Britain's titan firms of the future which have too often been hamstrung at their early stages by unnecessary regulation. Altogether, this is an important step towards fulfilling the sector's hopes for a game changing industrial strategy. Improvements in growth capital, backing today's scaling firms and cutting red tape all form an important part of delivering on that."

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New wellbeing app launched to help stressed out care and education workers amid burnout and thousands of unfilled jobs

Business Secretary backs British scale ups with growth package and red tape review