International recruitment drove improvements in the adult social care workforce in the year to March 2024 – but the sector faces ongoing domestic recruitment and retention challenges, according to new data from the adult social care workforce development body Skills for Care.
The latest State of the Adult Social Care Sector and Workforce in England report shows that the workforce grew (to 1.71 million filled posts) and vacancies fell (to 131,000 on any given day) for the second successive year.
24.2% of people working in care left their jobs in 2023/24. Among independent and local authority employers – for whom records go back the furthest – the turnover rate fell to below 1 in 4 (24.8%) for the first time since 2014/15, down from 29.1% the previous year.
The number of men working in the female-dominated sector reached a record high, with men accounting for 21% of the workforce. It is the first time that men have represented more than a fifth of the workforce since records began – the proportion had been static at 18% from 2012/13 until 2022/23, when it rose for the first time, to 19%.
However, these positive statistics are mainly due to the record level of international recruitment in 2023/24 and the sector is still struggling with domestic recruitment and retention. The year saw 105,000 international recruits starting direct care providing roles in the independent sector and the number of people in the workforce with a British nationality shrinking by 30,000. Over the two years since March 2022, 185,000 international recruits joined and the number of British workers fell by 70,000.
It is clear from the data that this is not a case of international recruits taking jobs from British people, as the number of vacancies across the sector remains high.
While the turnover rate for internationally-recruited staff in the frontline ‘Care Worker’ role was 30%, the turnover rate for domestic recruits into Care Worker roles was 41.1%.
29% of international recruits were male, but men only accounted for 15% of newly-recruited British care workers.
These differences are significant because the supply of international workers is declining. According to Skills for Care’s latest tracking data, an estimated 8,000 new international recruits started between April and June 2024, compared with an average of 26,000 per quarter in the year to March – a decrease of over two thirds.
Even with the record level of international recruitment in 2023/24, the sector’s vacancy rate of 8.3% was still around 3 times that of the wider economy. Skills for Care estimates that, in addition to filling vacancies, the sector will need another 540,000 posts by 2040 if the workforce is to grow in proportion to the number of people aged over 65 in the population.
Other findings from the report include:
- The adult social care sector was estimated to contribute £68.1 billion gross value added (GVA) to the economy in England – which is up 13.2% from 2022/23.
- The number of filled posts increased by 70,000 (4.2%).
- In terms of individual job roles, social workers filled posts increased the most over the period (1,800 or 7.7%), followed by care workers (48,000 or 5.6%).
- The number of personal assistant filled posts decreased by 7,000 (5.4%), the largest decrease of any job role.
- The median hourly rate for care workers was £11 – 58p an hour more than the National Living Wage at the time. This is slightly less than the previous year, when the differential was 61p.
- Care workers with five or more years’ experience were, on average, earning around 10p more per hour than care workers with less than one years’ experience. This is more than the previous year (6p) but has fallen from 33p per hour in March 2016.
- 41% of care workers held a relevant qualification at level 2 or above. This has been at a similar level since 2020/21 but has fallen from 49% in 2017/18.
- 24,600 adult social care apprenticeships were started in 2022/23 – the most recent year that apprenticeship data is available for. This was a 14% drop from the previous year, whereas the number of apprenticeships started across all sectors only fell by 3%. The number has fallen by 75% since 2016/17.
- The social care workforce continues to be very diverse, with 32% of workers coming from ethnic minority backgrounds, compared with 17% of the population.
- There were an estimated 18,500 organisations providing or organising, adult social care in England.
- Of around 210,000 adults, older people and carers who received direct payments, 65,000 employed their own staff.
Skills for Care has led the development of a new Workforce Strategy for adult social care, which was published in July 2024. The Strategy – which has the backing of a wide range of organisations from across social care, health and education – aims to improve the quality of social care roles, ensuring that the sector can attract and keep enough people with the right skills and values to provide the best possible care and support for the people who draw on it.
Skills for Care CEO, Professor Oonagh Smyth, said:
“It’s clear from our data that international recruitment has been vital in helping the social care workforce grow, but we can’t count on this continuing as we’re starting to see less of it – and the global job market is a competitive one. So we need to stem the tide of British care workers who are leaving their jobs and we can only do that by improving the quality of care roles so the sector can be more competitive in local job markets.
“The launch of the Workforce Strategy for adult social care in July was a big step forward. We know what needs to be done, so now all of us with the power to implement the Strategy’s recommendations just need to make it happen.
“This includes investing properly in the workforce as part of the journey towards a National Care Service. Improving pay is an important step, but focusing on things like training and the infrastructure to enable proper workforce planning are vital too. Other sectors can respond to improved care worker pay by increasing their own – but it’ll be harder for them to compete with better-paid care roles that are also rewarding, meaningful and come with great opportunities to learn and grow.
“Not only is the social care workforce vital for our society and a meaningful and fulfilling career for so many people, but it will also be central to the success of the new Government’s missions to build an NHS fit for the future, kick-start the economy and break down barriers to opportunity. Its importance cannot and must not be overlooked.
“The clock is ticking – we know we’re going to need more than half a million more care roles by 2040, and that’s on top of all the vacancies we still need to fill.”
