Job vacancies in care sector hit record high

The number of filled social care jobs has fallen for the first time in almost a decade as the sector struggles to attract and keep staff, new figures show.

The number of filled jobs in adult social care fell by three per cent – 50,000 positions – between 2020-21 and 2021-22, according to a report from workforce development and planning body Skills for Care.

It is the first year-on-year fall since it started collecting data in 2012-13.

The vacancy rate rose by 52% – 55,000 positions – with the decrease in filled posts down to a struggle to recruit and retain staff, rather than a reduced demand for care.

The fall comes despite £162.5m in funding from Government and a national recruitment campaign to boost numbers.

The body's annual report found there were 1.79 million over all posts in 2021-22 – up 0.3% from the previous year.

This comprises of 1.62 million filled posts and 165,000 vacancies.

Skills for Care chief executive Oonagh Smyth said: "Through our monthly tracking data, we already knew that the number of filled posts had been decreasing since the height of the pandemic, and filled posts have now decreased for the first time on record.

"This highlights the recruitment and retention challenges which we know social care employers are facing right now and is not a decrease in demand for care services.”

She added: "In fact, our forecast data tells us that we will need a 27% increase in posts in social care by 2035 to continue to maintain the current levels of care and support to people who will need it in the future."