Vacancy rate for social carers still high

AROUND ten per cent of social care jobs in Barnsley remained vacant last year in an industry which saw more than a 50 per cent turnover of registered nurses.

A report from charity Skills for Care estimated there were around 5,700 jobs available in Barnsley’s adult social care sector last year.

However, only roughly 5,400 of these posts were filled in the timeframe.

It means the area’s vacancy rate stood just below the national average at ten per cent.

There was a significant level of vacancy for support and outreach, 14 per cent, and senior care worker roles, 11 per cent.

Yorkshire and the Humber had the lowest vacancy rate across England’s regions, at nine per cent.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director of Age UK and the co-chair of the Care and Support Alliance, said there’s ‘no avoiding’ the need for improved pay and working conditions within the sector.

“Recruitment and retention in social care have been difficult for some years but both now appear to be getting markedly worse,” she added.

“The main problem is pay – cash starved care simply can’t compete with the big supermarkets and online retailers on wages so committed staff are lured elsewhere.”

The charity’s report also found that around 400,000 people left the sector last year, with an average turnover rate of 29 per cent.

But there are services in Barnsley that sit well above the average.

Rates were especially high among registered nurses, with a turnover of 53 per cent, whilst care workers saw a rate of 35 per cent.

Barnsley’s average turnover rate was 28 per cent.

Oonagh Smyth, the CEO of Skills for Care, said the social care sector is facing complex challenges with a surge in demand impacting recruitment and retention.

“We must talk more about how rewarding social care is to work in so that we attract more people, and we must make it easier for the people who love working in social care to stay by improving terms and conditions and investing in their career development,” she said

She added 480,000 extra staff in social care will be needed by 2035 as 28 per cent of the current workforce are aged 55 and over and may retire in the next decade.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We’re investing in adult social care and have made £500m available to support discharge from hospital into the community and bolster the workforce this winter, on top of record funding to support our ten-year plan set out in the People at the Heart of Care white paper.”

They said ‘tens of thousands’ of extra staff have joined since care workers were added to the Health and Care Worker visa and the Shortage Occupation list – a list of jobs in short supply which can be more easily filled by non-UK workers.

They added a new domestic recruitment campaign will be launched.