Oonagh Smyth, Care Chief Executive at Skills for Care, discusses the ongoing challenges faced by the social care workforce and what long term solutions we have at our disposal to tackle them.
The adult social care sector in England has long faced challenges when it comes to building a sustainable workforce, and while recent figures offer glimmers of hope, they also underscore the need for deeper, long-term solutions. Skills for Care’s annual State of the Adult Social Care Sector and Workforce in England report, published in October, highlights a growing workforce but also reveals some persistent issues.
According to this year’s report, the total number of posts in adult social care in England increased to 1.84 million in 2023/24, up 2.6% (47,000 posts) from the previous year. Of those, 1.705 million posts were filled, marking the highest number since records began and a 4% rise from 2022/23. Notably, staff turnover decreased, with 24.2% of workers leaving their jobs in 2023/24, down from 29.1% the previous year. Vacancy rates also dropped from a peak of 10.6% in 2021/22 to 8.3% in 2023/24, aided largely by international recruitment.
However, these promising statistics mask a more complicated reality. While the sector saw 105,000 international recruits join in 2023/24, the number of British workers fell by 30,000 in the same period. Over the past two years, international recruitment has brought in 185,000 new workers, yet the number of British nationals in the workforce shrank by 70,000. Changes in legislation are already drastically reducing the availability of international recruits, and without addressing the root causes of domestic recruitment and retention struggles, the sector risks a “leaky bucket” scenario where it loses staff as quickly as it recruits them.
The ‘Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care’, which launched in July, is one of the key ways a long-term vision for social care is being built. The Strategy was developed for the sector, by the sector, led by Skills for Care and is designed to set out a path for stable growth of the workforce and addresses many of the sector’s challenges head on, emphasising the importance of quality jobs and training.
Without improving our efforts to retain staff, the resources we invest in recruitment efforts will quickly begin to deliver diminishing returns. Quite rightly, the Strategy highlights training as a crucial lever for long term success in retaining staff, pointing to data that shows people with a relevant social care qualification have a significantly lower turnover rate than those with none – 26.5%, as opposed to 37%.
Also central to the Workforce Strategy is the idea that a positive work environment—one that involves staff in decision-making, celebrates achievements, and upholds organisational values—encourages staff retention. Establishments with lower turnover rates report investing heavily in these areas.
In addition to working environment, workforce retention is closely linked to job quality. High turnover is impacted by low pay and unstable working conditions, such as those often present in organisations using zero-hour contracts. Evidence shows the two most immediate recruitment levers in adult social care are ensuring that adult social care is competitive in local labour markets.
The data paints a pretty clear picture: better jobs, more opportunity and fostering a positive work environment are essential for retaining workers and stabilising the workforce.
I hope this has offered some helpful insight into how we might address these issues in the future. Skills for Care has a variety of helpful resources to assist providers in making many of the changes discussed here, such as advice on retention, training and developing your workforce and how to improve your organisational culture , so be sure to visit our website.
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