Government needs to act now to join the dots on social care staffing, pay and sector development

Commenting on the Skills for Care report, Nuffield Trust Deputy Director of Policy Natasha Curry said: 

“This latest report again highlights the sheer size and immense societal and economic value of England’s social care sector, which employs nearly 1.6 million people in crucial caring roles and contributes more than £68bn to the English economy. But despite its value, the sector remains in peril and today’s outlook must serve as a wake-up call for government to get to grips with the future of social care. 

“The average vacancy rate in social care is still nearly three times higher than the national workforce average and concerningly, care worker pay remains among the lowest in the economy with 80% of jobs paying more. Meanwhile, the sector’s necessary dependence on international recruitment looks increasingly fragile, as the number of applications from workers overseas has fallen dramatically over recent months, likely accelerated by visa changes. 

“The sector will need another 540,000 workers by 2040 to keep up with need. Shoring up its workforce with overseas recruits is not a sustainable solution and the government needs to act now on the issue. Skills for Care’s existing workforce strategy is a great place to start – government needs to urgently fund and support that strategy, working closely with the sector and stakeholders, to join up the dots on workforce development, pay and wider service improvement and integration to ensure we have a social care sector fit for the future.” 

Anticipating today’s presentation of the Employment Rights Bill before Parliament, she said: 

“This draft legislation presents a much-needed opportunity to act on some of the pervasive issues that blight social care recruitment and retention, and the promise of a dedicated Fair Pay Agreement for social care will be a long-overdue and vital first step in improving sector pay.   

“However, boosting rights and pay in isolation will not magically fix deep-rooted, complex issues across the sector. We need a holistic, joined-up approach as part of wider social care reform. Widespread illegal pay must be tackled, workers need to be able to earn more over their careers, and the government must put in more funding to cover the costs of higher pay, otherwise councils and care providers will simply be pushed into bankruptcy.” 

Ahead of a House of Lords debate today on the state of social care in England, the Nuffield Trust has also issued a detailed briefing for policy makers. Read it here.