110,000 jobs need filling in social care
One in 12 posts vacant as providers struggle to attract and retain staff
THE crisis in social care was laid bare last night as a report revealed there are more than 110,000 vacant posts in Eng - land alone.
Training charity Skills for Care said the vacancy rate has increased from 6.6 per cent to 8 per cent in the past year , the equivalent of 22,000 positions.
More than two-thirds of the unfilled posts – 76,000 – are for care workers who are needed to look after people in their own homes.
Experts warned it was proof that the sector was failing to keep pace with the demands of the UK’s growing elderly population.
Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents organisations across the healthcare industry, said: ‘This report reveals a service that is failing to cope and faces meltdown in the future unless urgent action is taken to deal with the twin challenges of funding and workforce.
‘Social care is the scandal that has not dared speak its name, but we have to expose it before it deteriorates still further.’
Candace Imison, director of policy at the think tank Nuffield Trust, said: ‘T oday’s figures show social care is struggling to get the workers needed to pro - vide vital services. Meanwhile, the Government is considering proposals to end less skilled migration from the EU.
‘Either we address the financial crisis that has pushed social care providers too far into the red to pay decent wages, or we continue to allow migration to fill these gaps after Brexit.’
The 2018 State of the Adult Social Care Sector and W orkforce report shows there are 1.5 million people in the profession, but growth is slowing.
Worryingly, almost a third of staff – 31 per cent – either left or changed jobs in the past year , while a fifth of all staff were aged over 55, pointing to an ageing workforce.
More than one in ten social care jobs is thought to be unfilled in 35 out of 152 local authority areas, according to vacancy figures.
Low pay, anti-social hours and the demands of the job are thought to be behind difficulties in both recruitment and retention of staff.
The Skills for Care report found that around 335,000 staff were on a zero -hours contract, while the majority of the adult social care workforce were British, 8 per cent had an EU nationality and 10 per cent were from outside of the EU.
The findings come days after official figures revealed NHS staff vacancies had risen nearly 10 per cent in just three months, to more than 107,000.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: ‘We want to promote adult social care as a rewarding career and attract and retain staff.
‘We are working to ensure the system is able to meet the demands of our growing ageing population. In the autumn, we’ll set out our plans to reform the social care system to make it sustainable for the future.’