We must stem tide of British care workers leaving their jobs, new report warns

By Aine Fox, Reporter10th October 2024News EnglandAdult Care, News England, Pay and Conditions, Recruitment / Retention, Skills for Care, Social Care, Top Stories, Workforce

The proportion of men working in adult social care in England has reached a record high, according to a report which also warns of the need to “stem the tide” of British workers quitting the sector.

For the first time since Skills for Care’s records began around a decade ago, men now account for just over a fifth (21%) of people in the traditionally female-dominated workforce.

The figure had remained at 18% since 2012 and rose slightly to 19% in the year to March 2023.

But the annual State Of The Adult Social Care Sector And Workforce In England report, published on Thursday, noted that the increase has mainly been driven by overseas recruitment, with men accounting for 29% of those coming from other countries to work here.

Only 15% of newly-recruited British care workers were men and Skills for Care – the strategic workforce development and planning body for adult social care in England – said the latest data shows the sector faces ongoing domestic recruitment and retention challenges.

While 105,000 international recruits started direct care providing roles in the independent sector in the year to March, the number of people in the workforce with a British nationality shrank by 30,000.

Skills for Care said that, in the two years since March 2022, 185,000 international recruits joined and the number of British workers fell by 70,000.

The organisation said it is “not a case of international recruits taking jobs from British people” because the number of vacancies across the sector remains high – around three times the national average of other economic sectors.

The turnover rate in frontline care worker roles is also higher for domestic recruits, at 41.1% compared with 30% for overseas staff.

Skills for Care said its latest tracking data shows the supply of international workers is falling.

Only around 8,000 new international recruits started in the sector between April and June, compared with an average of 26,000 per quarter in the year to March.

The latest Home Office figures, published in September, suggest the overall number of applications to come to the UK on a health and care worker visa fell by more than half (61%) in eight months of this year (99,100) compared with the equivalent period in 2023 (257,400).

The social care sector previously voiced concern about the effects of the Conservative government’s dependants ban, branding it “brutal” and blaming the policy for cutting a “lifeline of overseas staff”.

The latest visa application figures are due to be published on Thursday.

In more positive findings, Skills for Care said the workforce grew – there were 1.71 million filled posts – in the year to March and vacancies fell, to 131,000 on any given day, for the second successive year.

Just under a quarter (24.2%) of people working in care left their jobs in the year to March, and the turnover rate fell to below one in four (24.8%) for the first time since the year to March 2015 and was down from 29.1% the previous year.

Skills for Care chief executive Professor Oonagh Smyth (pictured) 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.”

Earlier this year, when presenting its social care workforce strategy, Skills for Care estimated that more than half a million extra roles will be needed in the sector in the next 15 years to keep up with demand, based on a growing older population as people live longer.

Prof Smyth added: “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.”

Meanwhile, the Local Government Association (LGA) has described the sector as being “under significant strain” after its latest survey of councils found “thousands of vacancies and mounting costs”.

The findings, from 41% of councils in England, suggested a vacancy rate of 16% as of October 2023 for adult social care staff working in local councils.

The hardest roles to fill were qualified social workers in mental health services, and overall pay remained a major issue, with half of councils which responded saying low wages were the primary reason staff were leaving.

More was spent by councils on agency workers to cover the gaps, at an estimated £292 million set to be spent on this in the year to March, up from £277 million the previous year.

David Fothergill, chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “Without urgent intervention, councils will struggle to meet their legal duties to people who draw on care.

“We are calling on the Government to work quickly and closely with councils on a fair pay agreement for care workers to attract and retain skilled professionals, implementing a fully funded workforce strategy for the sector, and providing councils with the resources they need to reduce their reliance on costly agency staff.”

The Nuffield Trust said the sector “remains in peril” and its “necessary dependence on international recruitment looks increasingly fragile”, while the National Care Forum said when the impact of international recruitment is “stripped out, the underlying statistics around pay, turnover and recruitment make clear that we are not in a sustainable situation”.

Anna Hemmings, chief executive of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (Adass), said “dwindling” international recruitment is “making it more urgent than ever that the Government makes the improvements to pay and conditions needed to encourage domestic workers into a career in care”.

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive, NHS Providers, said the NHS “needs strong social care services and workforces alongside (it)” and warned ministers they “can’t put off difficult decisions about social care any longer”.

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We are committed to tackling the significant challenges facing social care and we will work closely with the sector and across government on our plans for reform.

“This includes building a national care service and establishing the first ever fair pay agreement to properly reward hard-working staff and improve domestic recruitment and retention.”