Health leaders have called for an improvement in pay and working conditions for social care workers, following a report outlining the low vacancy and high turnover rate for social care positions, leaving an already overstretched system understaffed.
‘The sector remains in peril and today’s outlook must serve as a wake-up call for government to get to grips with the future of social care. The average vacancy rate in social care is still nearly three times higher than the national workforce average,’ said Nuffield Trust Deputy Director of Policy Natasha Curry,
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The Skills for Care ‘State of the Adult Social Care Sector and Workforce Report’ detailed employment characteristics in the social care sector for 2023/2024. The report outlined the low number of social care vacancies of 131,000 posts – 14.6% lower than the previous year.
While seemingly positive, some argue that the low vacancies conceal the reality of an understaffed social care system, resulting in increased pressure on both patients, and workers as more staff are required to fulfil the growing demand for social care. ‘A fall in social care vacancies masks the harsh reality of a sector which has nowhere near enough staff to meet people’s needs,’ Claire Sutton, Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Transformational Lead, Independent Health and Social Care Sector, said. ‘In social care there are still over 130k empty posts and significant numbers of vulnerable people at risk.’
Low recruitment and retention of staff was attributed to the low wages in the sector, as ‘care worker pay remains among the lowest in the economy, with 80% of jobs paying more,’ according to Ms Curry, who also projects that ‘the sector will need another 540,000 workers by 2040 to keep up with need.’
Organisations such as the RCN and Nuffield Trust have welcomed the Government’s new Employment Rights bill acts as an opportunity to alleviate the pressure and improve recruitment by advocating for fairer pay, better career opportunities and more flexible working conditions for social care workers.
The bill, which was laid before Parliament on October 10th advocates for economic security for workers with enhancements to measures such as sick pay and parental leave. The proposals ‘would be a crucial step for social care,’ according to Curry, and that the enforced standards and legally binding minimum pay terms would increase the recruitment of domestic social care workers. But the measures will only become effective with an increase in government funding.
‘Implementing the new system of negotiated pay and conditions will take a long time – it isn’t clear who exactly can negotiate on behalf of the whole sector. In the meantime, staffing is precarious. In the upcoming budget, the Government will need to consider immediate measures to shore up the system and help to recruit and retain staff – otherwise the situation will be even worse by the time these new rights come in.’