The latest report from Skills for Care highlights ongoing social care recruitment and retention challenges, with any workforce improvements driven by international recruitment.
The State of the Adult Social Care Sector and Workforce in England report reveals that the adult social care workforce grew, and vacancies fell, for the second successive year during 2023-24.
However, these positive statistics are mainly due to a record level of international social care recruitment, with domestic recruitment and retention still proving difficult for the sector.
International social care recruitment bolsters sector
Data from the adult social care workforce development body shows that 105,000 international recruits started direct care providing positions within the independent sector during 2023-24, while the number of social care workers with a British nationality fell by 30,000. This is an ongoing trend, with the data for the last two years since March 2022 showing that there were a total of 185,000 international social care recruits, while the number of British workers shrunk by 70,000.
Skills for Care emphasises the fact that this is not a case of international recruits taking job roles away from British people, as the number of social care vacancies remains high, and the sector is struggling to fill them.
From April 2023 until March 2024, the social care sector grew to 1.71 million filled positions, and vacancies fell to 131,000 on any given day. The turnover rate also fell, from 29.1%, to 24.8%, or 1 in 4 posts.
Men accounted for just over a fifth of the workforce (21%), a record-high in the female-dominated sector, for the first time since records began.
But this positive progress is at risk, since the rate of international social care recruitment is dwindling.
International recruits drive the positive change seen in the data, with a lower turnover rate for frontline care roles (30% compared to 41.1% among domestic recruits) and a higher proportion of male recruits (29% compared to 15% of domestic recruits).
Social care recruitment a key issue of our time
Skills for Care’s tracking data suggests that around 8,000 new international social care recruits started work between April and June 2024, compared to an average of 26,000 per quarter in the previous financial year. This represents a decrease of more than two thirds.
And even with bumper recruitment internationally, the vacancy rate in the adult social care sector (8.3%) is still around 3 times that of the wider economy.
Skills for Care warns that the sector needs to grow by 540,000 extra posts in addition to filling current vacancies if it is to go in proportion to the number of people aged over 65 in the population. This makes social care recruitment a key issue of our time.
The recently published State of the Adult Social Care Sector and Workforce in England report also reveals:
- The adult social care sector contributed an estimated £68.1 million to the economy – an increase of 13.2% from the previous year
- The number of filled posts increased by 70,000, or 4.2%
- The number of personal assistant filled posts fell by 7,000, or 5.4%, which is the largest decrease of any individual job role within the sector
- Care workers earned, on average, 58p an hour more than the National Living Wage at the time. This is less than 2022-23, when they earned an average of 61p above Living Wage
- Care workers with 5 or more years’ experience only earned, on average, around 10p more per hour than care workers who were relatively new to the role
- 41% of care workers held a relevant qualification at Level 2 or above
- The social care workforce continues to be one of the most diverse, with 32% of workers coming from ethnic minority backgrounds, compared to 17% of the population
- An estimated 18,500 organisations provided or organised adult social care across England
Workforce strategy addresses social care recruitment challenges
Skills for Care recently led the development of a new Workforce Strategy for adult social care, which aims to address social care recruitment challenges and ensure that the sector can attract and retain the right workers, in the right numbers and improve the quality and perception of social care job roles.
The CEO of Skills for Care, Professor Oonagh Smyth, cautions that the “clock is ticking” for social care recruitment.
She explained:
“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.”
High quality training for social care
First Response Training (FRT) is a leading, national training provider.
They deliver over 6,000 courses each year in the fields of health and safety, first aid, fire safety, food safety, mental health, health and social care and other special focus topics.
Their diverse portfolio includes training awards designed for care workers, such as Infection Control and Prevention, Safeguarding Adults, Duty of Care, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Person Centred Care and Support and many others.
Their course portfolio spans Care Certificate standards, mandatory training awards, clinical skills, special focus courses and higher level training for supervisors and managers.
A Trainer at FRT, says:
“We know that care workers do an incredible, invaluable job and we welcome any initiative that will help make this more widely recognised and make the sector as good as it can be, bolstering social care recruitment and overcoming the many challenges the sector faces around recruitment and retention of staff.
“As the priorities of the Workforce Strategy make clear, staff training is key to successful recruitment, retention and support of adult social care workers and will help ensure a good quality of life for those receiving care and support, now and in the future.”
For more information on the training provided by FRT, please call them on freephone 0800 310 2300 or send an e-mail to info@firstresponsetraining.com.