The latest annual report from Skills for Care reveals that the adult social care workforce is growing steadily with filled positions at their highest rates since records began, but there continues to be challenges in domestic recruitment and retention.
Indeed, the State of the Adult Social Care Sector and Workforce in England report shows that in 2023/24, the adult social care workforce grew to 1.71 million filled posts, with vacancies falling to 131,000 on any given day compared to 152,000 in 2022/23.
However, the report shows this boost had been largely fuelled by international recruitment strategies and the sector is still facing significant domestic recruitment and retention challenges.
In total, 105,000 international recruits started direct care providing roles in the independent sector over the past year, while the number of people in the workforce with a British nationality shrunk by 30,000. There was also a higher turnover rate among British care workers at 41.1% compared to 30% among internationally recruited staff.
Skills for Care CEO, Professor Oonagh Smyth, says successes on the international recruitment front are therefore masking ongoing challenges when it comes to domestic recruitment, with tens of thousands of people with a British nationality leaving the sector.
While Prof Smyth says international recruits are a welcome and much-needed addition to our workforce, she warns the heavy reliance on internationally recruited staff is concerning because the supply of international workers is declining, and this type of recruitment is vulnerable to immigration policy changes.
This decline is demonstrated by Skills for Care’s latest tracking data which shows 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.
Given the growing care needs of our ageing population, 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.
“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,” said Professor Smyth. “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.”
To do this, Prof Smyth says we must implement the Workforce Strategy’s recommendations. This includes investing in the workforce by improving pay, training and infrastructure to enable proper workforce planning.
“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,” she said.
In last year’s report, Skills for Care referred to social care as a ‘leaky bucket’, and the latest data shows that the bucket clearly still has holes. However, the report shows steady improvement in workforce numbers as well as improving diversity.
Indeed, nearly one third (32%) of the adult social care workforce come from ethnic minority backgrounds, compared with 17% of the population. The number of men working in the female-dominated sector has also reached a record high, with men accounting for 21% of the workforce, marking the first time men have represented more than a fifth of the workforce since records began.
Despite the positives, Lucinda Allen, Senior Policy Officer at the Health Foundation, says there are still significant challenges ahead, and the government must implement a social care plan to ensure we can meet the needs of our ageing population.
“Today’s data show that staffing shortages in the care sector have recovered from a crisis point in 2021, largely thanks to record levels of international recruitment. But ensuring enough staff to care for older and disabled people remains challenging, with 131,000 unfilled posts in social care in 2023/24 and a vacancy rate almost three times that of the wider UK economy. The significant drop in international recruitment in recent months may spell more trouble ahead.
“The government’s forthcoming legislation on a fair pay agreement to set minimum pay, terms and conditions in social care is promising. Boosting pay is a necessary step to make the sector more attractive, but evidence suggests that pay policies work better when there’s also improvements to progression, training and development. Alongside the fair pay agreement, the government needs to set out a comprehensive workforce strategy for social care.
“The social care system also desperately needs wider reform and investment, including to improve people’s care and protect people against high care costs. Nearly 100 days into the new government, there is still no sign of a desperately needed plan for social care. Without this, the government’s aspiration of a ‘national care service’ risks being added to the long list of broken political promises on social care,” she said.
