Oonagh Smyth, Chief Executive at Skills for Care, discusses the challenges and opportunities for recruitment, retention, and learning and development this year.
As the new year begins it’s an important time to think about what opportunities lie ahead for the year, and what challenges will need to be addressed.
Moving into 2024 we know that one of the biggest challenges that continues for social care employers is around recruitment and retention of staff.
Our latest data[i], released in October 2023, told us that while there has been a positive change in the number of vacancies reducing and the number of filled posts increasing, vacancies do remain high with 152,000 vacancies on any given day.
Turnover has also slightly decreased on 2021/22 but again remains high at 28.3%. I have said before that we have a ‘leaky bucket’ in the sector, and this is something that needs to be fixed. We can’t recruit our way out of a retention challenge; keeping the right people for the long-term must be a priority in securing and sustaining our workforce and leaders of the future.
Of course, learning and development of staff is something which links directly to retaining staff. Providing ongoing learning and development for staff allows them to build their skills and confidence and grow in their career within social care. It also shows that that they’re valued and recognised, which has a positive impact on morale and loyalty.
We know from our data that there are five key factors which impact retention. These are:
- being paid more than the minimum wage
- not being on a zero-hours contract
- being able to work full-time
- being able to access training
- having a relevant qualification.
Where none of these factors apply, care workers are more than twice as likely to leave their jobs than when all five factors apply – a 48.7% turnover rate compared with 20.6%.
Looking individually at the impact of training and qualifications on retention we still see a positive correlation.
The average turnover rate was 9.0 percentage points lower amongst care workers who had received some form of training (31.6%), compared to those who had not (40.6%).
Of care workers that held a relevant social care qualification, 26.5% had left within the 12-month analysis period, compared to 37.0% of those that didn’t hold a relevant qualification.
The impact which continuous learning has on staff retention is something we’re exploring in our #KeepLearning spotlight[ii] running throughout January and February.
In January, the Government announced two developments set to take place in 2024 which will be fundamental in supporting both learning and recruitment and retention in the sector. These are the first iteration of the Care Workforce Pathway and the development of a new Care Certificate recognised qualification.
Currently there’s no universal career structure or clear articulation of the level of knowledge, experience and skill that’s required to deliver high-quality, personalised care and support.
The Care Workforce Pathway will help to better articulate what a career in social care means, supporting the development of a consistent understanding of what it is to be a professional working in adult social care.
This is an important step in ensuring that people working in social care are recognised as the professionals that they are and are supported to develop in their roles long-term. This is vital in shaping the future of social care and developing new leaders.
We recommend that everyone new to working in social care completes the Care Certificate as part of a robust induction process.
We know from our data that 65% of direct care providing staff who’ve started work in the sector since January 2015 have engaged with the Care Certificate.
Following feedback from people working in care, the Care Certificate is now being developed into a recognised qualification.
Skills for Care has been working on developing the content for this new Care Certificate qualification, in collaboration with the sector through a series of focus groups and meetings with stakeholders.
Awarding organisations will be using the content developed over the next few months to create and launch their qualifications.
The new qualification reflects the existing content of the Care Certificate standards, with some updates based on emerging themes, such as personal wellbeing, digital skills and equality and diversity.
The new qualification will make the Care Certificate more portable between employers and create a more robust delivery, assessment, and standardisation process.
At Skills for Care, we’ll also be continuing our work this year on developing the ‘Workforce strategy for adult social care’, which will be instrumental in supporting the sector to grow and maximise opportunities.
I look forward to providing further updates on that work and everything else that Skills for Care will be doing this year to support people working in care, in 2024 and beyond.
@oonaghsmyth
skillsforcare.org.uk
[i] www.skillsforcare.org.uk/Adult-Social-Care-Workforce-Data/Workforce-intelligence/
[ii] www.skillsforcare.org.uk/news-and-events/Spotlight-on/Keep-learning-for-success.aspx
