The growing adult social care sector and its skilled workforce
contributes £50.3 billion to the English economy according to a
new report published by Skills for Care.
The workforce development agency for the social care sector
commissioned economic consultants KDNA to produce a detailed
analysis of how that significant economic spend is made in
communities across England.
‘The value of adult social care in England' report argues that
the best way to make adult social care sustainable in the
long-term is to move away from payment for adult social
care processes to payment based on better outcomes for
people who draw on care and support services.
It argues that the skills and knowledge of the 1.5 million strong
adult social care workforce is absolutely central to high
quality, and that investing in the development of talented and
productive care workers has significant benefits to the outcomes
of people drawing on care and support as well wider benefits to
the national economy.
This report can help shape how to offer contracts that reward and
value quality of care and the wellbeing outcomes of that support.
This will allow payment of wages to care staff that
will better represent the true value of the work they do to
support people in our communities. Addressing this is important
at a time when providers are reporting significant recruitment
and retention challenges.
The report analyses workforce’s value to society and monetises
some of these benefits, including improved wellbeing of carers
and employment opportunities for carers which is calculated as up
to £1.3bn and around £5.6 billion for working age adults. In
total we estimate that these economic benefits are at least £7.9
billion over and above the economic value of £50.3 billion
During the pandemic the sector’s economic activity increased by
7.7% while other sectors saw their activity stall, or shrink by
up to 4% overall. This resulted in the adult social care
contribution to the whole economy growing from 1.4% to 1.6%.
Any sustained growth in adult social care will boost local
economies, creating jobs by attracting new recruits into
rewarding careers in a growing sector and additional benefits via
indirect and induced ‘multiplier’ effects. That economic growth
would take place throughout England, but would have the greatest
impact, and so support levelling up, in Northern and Midlands
regions, where adult social care GVA is around 2% of total GVA
compared to less than 1% in London and the South East.
The report’s authors also recommend the sector needs to:
- Create a better-defined career structure linked to
training which is consistently invested in
- Address pay differentiations between senior and entry-level
care worker roles, linking to career structures.
- Recognise and reward the central role registered
managers play in high quality service delivery
- Look at higher overall levels of pay to increase the
competitiveness of the market enabling employers to attract
and employ workers with the right values
Skills for Care CEO Oonagh Smyth said: “This report supports our
vision of a fair and just society, where people can access
the advice, care and support they need delivered by skilled
and motivated workers to live their lives to the fullest.
“Over the last year the 1.5m people who work in social care have
gone above and beyond the call of duty to continue to support our
families and people in all of our communities to live their
lives, to do the things that they want and keep the relationships
that are important to them. This report shows very clearly that
they also make a significant and growing contribution to the
national economy.
“This report offers decision makers real insight into just how
important that contribution will be to the nation’s economic
recovery, and offers ideas about we can do to ensure we properly
recognise the efforts of our workforce who have made such huge
sacrifices during the pandemic.”
To download the report’s executive summary and the full
report https://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/adult-social-care-workforce-data/Workforce-intelligence/publications/national-information/Economic-value-report.aspx
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Responding to a Skills for Care report on the value of adult
social care, which says social care contributes £50.3 billion to
the economy in England and provides significant societal
benefits, Cllr David Fothergill, Chairman of the Local Government
Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said:
“Social care staff have gone above and beyond in providing vital
care and support to millions of people, despite facing immense
pressures and extremely challenging circumstances.
“Our dedicated care workers rightly need as much support as
possible, including urgent action on pay, conditions, skills and
training.
“As this report highlights, social care makes an immense
contribution to the economy which has grown during the pandemic,
as well as helping people to live the life they want to lead.
“Social care still faces a huge recruitment and retention crisis,
with more than 100,000 vacancies available on any given day and
extremely high turnover rates.
“The Government’s social care plan was a step towards tackling
this, but the Spending Review must also set out how immediate and
short-term pressures in social care will be addressed, working
with councils, care workers and those with lived experience to
build back better and help develop a care and support system fit
for the future.”
