Responding to the new Skills for Care report, Nuffield Trust Researcher Nina Hemmings said:
“It is welcome to see positive news in today’s social care workforce statistics with falling vacancies and more posts filled than at any point since records began, but troubling trends lie beneath the surface. The new government has a long road to travel to futureproof progress on tackling chronic staffing shortages, recruit and train more care workers at home and make social care an attractive and rewarding career choice.
“Despite the vacancy rate falling to 8.3%, it is still three times higher than that of the wider economy and well beyond the rate of the NHS. An estimated 70,000 British nationals left their social care jobs over the last two years, likely for higher-paid roles in competing sectors. All of this means the sector still relies heavily on international recruitment to drive the headline growth in posts filled, with one in three recruited staff in 2023/24 coming from overseas.
“It couldn’t be clearer that we need a comprehensive plan to attract and retain a sustainable social care workforce, so we welcome the strategy published by Skills for Care in collaboration with the wider social care sector. Recommendations for the government to lead pay reform starting this year; to develop a transition plan to reduce reliance on international recruitment; and to introduce a new legislative requirement to mandate strategic workforce planning are all welcome priorities.
“Implementing these recommendations will require central government funding and for national and local government, providers, regulators and workforce bodies to continue working together with this vital workforce.”
Notes to editors
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