Commenting on the Skills for Care ‘Size and
structure of the adult social care sector and workforce in
England' report, Simon Bottery, Senior Fellow at The King's Fund
said:
‘The latest Skills for Care workforce report reveals a
fundamental weakness of the social care system in England - its
inability to recruit enough British staff. The fall in the
vacancy rate outlined in today's report is entirely thanks to
overseas staff taking up social care roles - the number of
British staff in fact fell by 30,000 in 2024/25 and by 85,000
since 2021/22.
‘Pay is a critical factor in attracting people so it is welcome
that the government plans a fair pay agreement for the sector.
This should boost domestic recruitment. However social care
providers remain in the dark about the amount of money that has
been allocated to fund it - the figure was not included in the
recent Spending Review. The
government should make this public as soon as possible so that
the sector can understand how much of an impact it is likely to
have.
‘The fair pay agreement will in any case require negotiating
between providers and unions and will not be in force until at
least 2027. With the fall-off in overseas recruitment inevitable
because of changes to visa regulations, there is a risk that
vacancies will begin to climb once again before better pay
arrives. Given these workforce issues and the thousands of
people who go without vital social care and support there is a
real need for a government-led recruitment plan, including action
to recruit and retain younger workers.'
ENDS.
Notes to editors:
- The King's Fund has recently published analysis on Young people in the
adult social care workforce | The King's Fund
- The King's Fund's latest social care 360 report can be found
here: Social Care 360 | The
King's Fund
