Report: Recruitment and retention in the social service workforce in Scotland
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In February 2016, the Social Work Services Strategic Forum, through the Office of the Chief Social Work Adviser, commissioned a review of the recruitment and retention challenges that the Scottish social service sector faces.

An online survey and qualitative interviews were conducted from June to August 2016, amongst a range of stakeholders across much of the social service sector in Scotland with over 70 voluntary sector providers contributing.

The research looked at recruitment and retention issues relating to the following staff types:

  • Care / Support Workers
  • Social Workers
  • Allied Health Professionals
  • Registered Nurses
  • Mental Health Officers
  • Managers

The report reflects the impact/challenges in the sector and how this is not just having a negative impact on service delivery and quality of services but strongly impacting on providers’ ability to meet service demands and to a quality standard which is acceptable.

The main findings include:

  • Voluntary Sector providers fare less well than Independent Sector and Public Sector in regards pay, make more use of zero hours contracts and pay freezes.
  • Recruitment is no longer an impending crisis, existing problems are very real with providers expecting this trend to continue or worsen. 2015 Benchmarking Survey had 84.5% (up from 71% previous year) experiencing recruitment difficulties, now increased to 89%.
  • The image of the sector needs to be improved; providers are very clear on this and that there should be a national effort to achieve this.
  • Living Wage is welcome from providers and employees but no confidence that this will support retention in the sector.
  • Erosion of pay differentials causing major concern in retaining managers; the biggest impact in retention is care/support workers but managers also an issue which will increase over time with the introduction of the Living Wage.

To download the report, visit: http://www.ccpscotland.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/4488-Recruitment-and-Retention-FINAL-REPORT-v3.docx