National campaign launched to recruit more adult social care workers

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is launching a national campaign in mid-February to address the estimated 110,000 vacancies in adult social care in England.

Running across February and March the campaign aims to:

• Increase interest in adult social care as a job choice
• Increase understanding of the variety of roles in adult social care
• Equip smaller and medium-sized providers with tools to support the campaign

The national campaign will comprise social media, digital and local radio advertising, events and media relations across England. Care providers are urged to get involved with the campaign by providing case studies, advertising their vacancies and promoting social quizzes and content from a dedicated Facebook page.

Provider case studies and stories from their organisations will be used across the campaign for the campaign’s Facebook page. Interested providers can email [email protected] to get more information on how to get involved.

Providers are also encouraged to advertise their vacancies on DWP Find a Job, which is where the campaign and website will direct people to. Campaign materials will also be available to providers to equip them with information and assets to help them support the campaign locally.

Providers will also be crucial in driving traffic to the Facebook page by liking and sharing posts, sharing their own content, encouraging employees to refer friends to the sector with a #shareifyoucare hashtag and a quiz that encourages potential applicants to see if a role in adult social care is a right fit for them.

Minister for Care Caroline Dinenage said: “There is huge demand for more care professionals and we need to spread the word that careers in adult social care can be rewarding, varied and worthwhile. Care is a vocation where you can make a real difference and every day really is different to the next.

“As part of our national recruitment campaign we want to work with adult social care providers to recruit the best possible talent and I urge them to advertise their vacancies, so we can help fill as many as possible and build a workforce that is fit for the future.”

Sharon Allen (pictured), CEO of Skills for Care said: “I have spent my whole career in adult social care, so I know first-hand the tremendous professional and personal satisfaction that is on offer to anyone who joins us through this campaign.”

“This campaign will help employers find people who have the right personal values that will make them great care workers and that means people in our communities will be supported by highly motivated and skilled workers.”

As well as the high number of vacancies in the sector, the staff turnover rate is 30.7 per cent, equating to nearly 400,000 people leaving care jobs every year. Skills for Care forecasts show if the adult social care workforce grows proportionally to the projected number of people aged 65 and over in the population between 2017 and 2035, a 40 per cent increase in social care workers (650,000 jobs) would be required across England by 2035.

The national campaign has been informed by two pilot recruitment campaigns undertaken in Tyne & Wear and Gloucestershire in November 2018. These tested which channels, messages and sector engagement initiatives were the most effective at raising awareness of, and interest in, adult social care as a job choice.