²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëù to develop workforce strategy for adult social care – as new report shows a year of ‘green shoots’ and ongoing challenges
²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëù has published its annual State of the Adult Social Care Sector and Workforce in England report - and announced plans to develop a new and comprehensive workforce strategy for adult social care.
The report covers the year from April 2022 to March 2023, which saw some improvements in workforce capacity - largely driven by an increase in international recruitment - including more posts being filled, fewer vacancies and less turnover.
The report also highlights ongoing trends for the sector, including 390,000 people leaving their jobs - with around a third of them leaving the sector altogether.
This year’s report gives brand new insight into what works when it comes to keeping people working in adult social care. It identifies five factors that are key to retaining staff. They are:
- being paid more than the minimum wage
- not being on a zero-hours contract
- being able to work full-time
- being able to access training
- having a relevant qualification.
Where none of these factors apply, care workers are more than twice as likely to leave their jobs than when all five factors apply – a 48.7% turnover rate compared with 20.6%.
While this analysis looked at the independent sector, the importance of good quality roles, development and stability will also be important for people employed by local authorities. These include the 23,500 social workers or 3,800 occupational therapists who work in social care and the broader commissioning workforce, all of whom are an essential part of how social care functions.
Other key findings in the report include:
- The workforce grew by 1% between April 2022 and March 2023 after shrinking for the first time on record the previous year.
- The vacancy rate fell to 9.9% - around 152,000 vacancies on any given day – from 10.6% the previous year.
- Monthly tracking since March suggests that the vacancy rate has continued to fall, and in August was 8.4% among independent sector care providers. In independent sector care homes, the vacancy rate fell to 5.1% in August, which was below pre-pandemic levels (5.5% in 2019/20).
- The turnover rate across the sector was 28.3% in 2022/23 – down slightly from 28.9% the previous year. This means around 390,000 people left their jobs. Around a third of them left the sector altogether.
- Adult social care added £55.7 billion per annum to the economy in England (up 8.5% from 2021/22) – which is more than the accommodation and food service industries.
- On average, care workers with five years’ (or more) experience in the sector were paid just six pence (0.6%) more per hour than care workers with less than one year of experience.
- For the first time on record, the proportion of men working in the sector increased from 18% to 19%.
- Only 8% of the workforce was aged under 25 - compared with 12% of the economically active population.
- The number of registered nurse filled posts increased by 2% in 2022/23 to 33,000.
- Between March 2022 and March 2023, an estimated 70,000 people arrived in the UK and started direct care providing roles in the independent sector.
- Projections show that we will need 25% more posts (440,000) by 2035 if the number of adult social care posts grows proportionally to the projected number of people aged 65 and over in the population.  
In response to those trends, ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëù, as the strategic workforce development body for adult social care in England, will be working with a wide range of organisations and people who have a stake in social care, to develop a workforce strategy. 
The strategy will identify the social care workforce needed over the next 15 years and set out a plan for ensuring the sector has enough of the right people with the right skills. It will help employers and commissioners with workforce planning, support the Government’s reform agenda and complement the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan covering the same period, which was published earlier this year.
²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëù CEO, Oonagh Smyth, said:
Sir David Pearson, who is co-chairing the steering group for the strategy with Oonagh Smyth, said:
Support for ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëù’s workforce strategy plans
Rob Webster, CEO of NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, said:
CEO of the ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùcare Association, Dr Jane Townson OBE said:
Simon Bottery, Senior Fellow, Social Care at The King’s Fund said:
Dr Clenton Farquharson CBE, Chair of Think Local Act Personal, said:
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