Adult social care recruitment challenges are easing, says new report

Vacancy rates for social care jobs have fallen by 7%, bringing them back to pre-Covid levels, according to new data from Skills for Care.

The report, based on the Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set (ASC-WDS), found that the adult social care sector has continued to grow between April 2024 and March 2025, despite a significant fall in the number of international recruits.

The total number of vacant posts in 2024/25 was 111,000, which is a 12.4% decrease on the previous year, and the number of filled posts grew by 3.4% to 1.6 million. This growth was smaller than the last year, but still the second-highest increase on record.

The report also shows the turnover rate in the independent sector decreased from 25.8% in 2023/24, to 24.7% in 2024/25.

Over 470,000 new posts are needed to keep up with projected growth

The sector still faces long-term recruitment and retention challenges as it is projected to need around 470,000 new posts – an increase of 27% – by 2040 to keep up with the projected growth in the population over the age of 65.

Skills for Care’s Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set (ASC-WDS) has data on more than 700,000 people in over 20,000 locations and enables data to be gathered flexibly on new areas of interest, to support policymaking and understanding of the workforce.

Oonagh Smyth, Skills for Care’s CEO, says: “It’s encouraging to see the sector continuing to grow and the vacancy rate falling back to pre-Covid levels. But we can’t afford to be complacent as some of this will be down to the fall in vacancies in the wider economy, which we know always benefits our sector. We need to protect ourselves from the wild swings in vacancy rates driven by the wider economic picture.

“It’s important to recognise that, while the vacancy rate in social care has reduced, it’s still three times that of the wider economy. And the data show that we’ll still need 470,000 more posts by 2040, so all of us in adult social care need to stay focused on workforce issues.”

International recruits have fallen

The number of international recruits fell from 105,000 in 2023/24 to 50,000 in 2024/25. However, the number of posts filled by people with a British nationality continued to decline, decreasing by 30,000 in 2024/25 – a decrease of 3%. The overall reduction in posts filled by people with a British nationality since 2020/2021 is 85,000 (7%).

Lucinda Allen, Policy Fellow at the Health Foundation, added: “Workers from outside the UK continue to hold up the care system in England. The number of British workers in social care has steadily declined since Brexit and they now represent just 70.8% of roles compared to 84.6% in 2019/20. Given government measures to reduce immigration, the shrinking domestic workforce raises serious concerns that care providers could struggle to recruit enough workers in the years ahead.

“Overseas workers are essential to the UK health and care system but it’s clear that recent international recruitment has not always been ethical. Today’s report shows the care sector has recruited heavily from ‘WHO red list’ countries which face significant shortages of health and care workers. Our recent analysis also highlighted that social care workers from outside the UK face particularly high risks of poverty and exploitation.

“Caring for older people and disabled people is vital and rewarding work but has long been underpaid and undervalued. Making jobs in social care more attractive and tackling high levels of poverty among workers requires significant improvements to pay, career progression and employment conditions. It’s vital that the government delivers on its plans for a ‘Fair Pay Agreement’ for social care.”

Alison Bloomer

Alison Bloomer is Editor of Learning Disability Today.

See Full Bio