The C.E.R.T Framework
Most care providers don't have a people strategy. They have a panic strategy.
React when someone leaves. Scramble to fill the gap. Hire under pressure. Wonder why the new person doesn't stay either. C.E.R.T fixes that.
C.E.R.T:
Create, Expand, Retain, Train.
Four stages. One continuous cycle. The framework FMC has used with every client since 2023.
It exists because most care providers treat recruitment, retention and training as separate problems, owned by separate people, fixed separately when they break. They are not separate. They are one system. A weak Create stage floods your pipeline with the wrong people. A weak Retain stage means your training investment walks out in month three. A weak Train stage means your employer brand stays invisible because nobody recommends you to their peers.
C.E.R.T was built from over fifteen years inside the sector: as a 360 recruiter placing IT and healthcare talent, as a support worker delivering care, as a care manager fighting the rota in mental health, children's services and elderly care. It is not a consultant's theory. It is the framework Matt wishes had existed when he was on the other side of the desk.
"Most providers don't have a recruitment problem. They have a systems problem dressed up as a recruitment problem."
Matt Fitton, FittonMillett
The four stages.
Each one is a place most care services quietly lose time, money and good people.
Create
Build a process worth applying to.
Expand
Widen where you look and who finds you.
Retain
Fix the leaky bucket before you pour more in.
Train
Build a culture where people grow.
Create
Build a process worth applying to.
What it covers
Job adverts that sound like your service rather than every other care provider. An application route candidates can actually complete. Automated acknowledgements and status updates so your team is not manually chasing each one. The entire first-impression mechanism, cleaned up.
The typical problem
The application takes 45 minutes and half the candidates quit midway. Confirmation emails never arrive. Interview slots are booked by reply-to-all. Good candidates take the first offer they get because your process moves too slowly. You get volume but not quality.
What FMC does
FMC rewrites your adverts in your voice, maps and streamlines the application journey, and configures automated candidate communications so every applicant knows where they stand within 24 hours of applying.
Expand
Widen where you look and who finds you.
What it covers
Employer brand development so people want to work for you before a vacancy exists. Identifying which channels produce hires who stay and which quietly drain your budget. A sourcing strategy that generates pipeline independently of open vacancies, not just in reaction to them.
The typical problem
Everything depends on one job board. No employer brand. No way to track whether the source produces good hires or just applications. Recruitment is entirely reactive: a vacancy opens, panic starts. Spend goes up every quarter with no clear idea why.
What FMC does
FMC audits your current channels against hire quality, builds or refines employer brand assets, and identifies social, community and referral channels specific to your location and service type. You stop spending on channels that do not convert.
Retain
Fix the leaky bucket before you pour more in.
What it covers
Structured onboarding through the first 90 days. Real check-in conversations at week one, month one and month three. Exit interview processes that actually capture and feed back data. The mechanisms that catch problems before they become resignations and the back door stays open.
The typical problem
Onboarding is a single day of paperwork and a hope. New starters work things out for themselves. Nobody finds out why people leave until they are already gone. Replacing a care worker costs £3,000 to £5,000. The cycle repeats every quarter.
What FMC does
FMC designs an onboarding sequence that connects new starters to culture, team and clarity. Builds the check-in schedule and conversation templates. Creates a lightweight exit feedback loop. Replaces guesswork about why people leave with data you can actually act on.
Train
Build a culture where people grow.
What it covers
Visible progression pathways so staff can see where working for you leads. Skills development planning, supervision structures and the internal culture signals that tell people they are invested in. Not compliance training ticked off once a year. Career development that keeps good people.
The typical problem
Training means mandatory CPD and nothing else. No clear progression. Staff hit a ceiling and leave for a provider who offers development. The people worth keeping tend to leave first because they have options. The team that stays is the team that could not leave.
What FMC does
FMC maps what career progression actually looks like inside your service, identifies where skills gaps are costing quality of care, and builds a simple, honest development pathway that gets used rather than sitting in a binder.
Why one stage without the others fails.
The C.E.R.T cycle is not four separate initiatives. It is one system where each stage feeds the next.
Fix Create and Expand gets better candidates to work with. Fix Retain and your training investment stops walking out the door in month three. Fix Train and your employer brand starts building itself, because well-supported, growing staff tell people where they work and why it is good.
The result is not just lower costs. It is a care service that is not in permanent crisis mode. Managers get their evenings back. Quality of care improves. The organisation can grow without the wheels falling off every time a vacancy opens.
C.E.R.T runs through every FMC service.
Whatever path you take, the framework is the foundation.
Health Check and Blueprint
The Health Check scores your recruitment across all nine stages, mapped to the C.E.R.T framework. You see exactly which stage is leaking most before you spend a penny more fixing it. £197, one-off.
Take the Health CheckRecruitment Diagnostic
A two-week forensic audit covering all four C.E.R.T stages, with a costed 90-day action plan. If I don't find £5k of recoverable cost, you don't pay. £997.
Learn about the DiagnosticThe 90-Day Reset
Twelve weekly 1:1 sessions that rebuild recruitment capability across all four C.E.R.T stages. Done with you, not for you, so the skills stay in your building when we're finished. £1,500.
Learn about the ResetATS and Automations
A bespoke Airtable ATS that automates the Create and Retain stages specifically: candidate comms, compliance tracking, onboarding sequences, and reporting. From £400 per month.
Learn about the ATSFind out where your C.E.R.T score stands.
The Health Check scores your recruitment across all nine stages in under an hour. You get a clear number, a 30-page Blueprint, and an honest picture of which stage to fix first.