Care England, the largest representative body for independent
providers of adult social care, has submitted evidence to the
Health and Social Care Select Committee’s inquiry into the impact
of a ‘no deal Brexit’ on health and social care.
Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England says:
“The prospect of a No-Deal Brexit only accentuates the
fragility within the social care sector. It magnifies
potential uncertainties in the recruitment and retention of
foreign workers upon which many independent community care
providers depend, currently the sector includes 233,000 employees
that have foreign nationality. With vacancy
rates running at around 90,000 at any one time, this dependency
is significantly important to the sustainability of the sector –
particularly as it is predicted that by 2035 an extra 650,000
social care jobs will be required to keep pace with rising
demand”.
“Not withstanding the potential impact of Brexit upon the
sustainability of social care, the sector is already at crisis
point. Relentless pressures on funding, increases
in the level and complexity of need and widespread challenges in
the retention and recruitment of the workforce required are
compounding at an exponential rate thus endangering the
continuity of care of thousands of vulnerable people. The
Government must address the immediate funding gap, estimated
at £2.5bn by 2020, alongside putting in place
arrangements that secure access to this highly
skilled and valued workforce as an integral part of
its Brexit negotiations”.
Care England has produced a briefing for its members regarding
Brexit. The main focus is the recruitment and retention of
foreign workers, including Registered Nurses, with particular
reference to areas of the country that may be most at risk; for
example in the South East of England 23% of the social care
workforce is non-British, with regional unemployment at 3.7%
compared with the North East of England which has only a 4%
dependency on non-British social care workforce and has an
unemployment rate of 4.4%.
Martin Green continues:
“In a sector characterised by low pay and negative
stereotyping we are worried that a No Deal Brexit would cut off,
or restrict, the foreign workers that we need and depend
upon”.
