Sharon Allen is the Chief Executive of Skills for Care, the not-for-profit organisation that aims to improve adult social care services across the whole of England by supporting employers’ workforce development activity. Skills for Care is part of the sector skills council, Skills for Care and Development.

Sharon has worked in the public and voluntary sector social care and supported housing sectors for nearly 30 years. A qualified social worker and housing professional, Sharon was previously Chief Executive of St Anne’s Community Services for eight years. St Anne’s Community Services is a pan regional voluntary sector organisation providing a wide range of supported housing and social care services throughout Yorkshire and Humber and the North East of England.

Prior to joining St Anne’s, Sharon was Director of National Services and Initiatives with Shelter and has previously managed the Blenheim Project in Bradford, worked for Women’s Aid in Calderdale and for Kirklees Metropolitan Council, Nottinghamshire County Council and Derbyshire County Council where her career in social care began.

Holding a wide range of non-executive positions, Sharon is a member of the Board of Yorkshire Forward (Regional Development Agency (RDA) for Yorkshire and Humber) and vice chair of ACEVO North. She was also Chair of Volition (Leeds Voluntary Sector Mental Health Forum), Board member at Yorkshire & Humber Regional Forum and Affinity Trust, member of the National Advisory Group to the Health and Criminal Justice Programme Board and of Skills for Care Yorkshire and Humber regional committee and represented the voluntary sector at Leeds Joint Strategic Commissioning Board and the Yorkshire and Humber Public Health Observatory. Sharon was also an external examiner for Leeds Metropolitan University Post Qualifying Social Work Award and has an MBA.