The 1.59 million people working in adult social care in England are vital to our society, communities and economy.
The plans set out in the government’s immigration white paper will effectively close the door to the recruitment of care workers from overseas. This means we need to make sure we’re doing everything we can do to strengthen the sector’s domestic workforce, so we can provide the best possible care for the people who draw on it. Skills are at the heart of this.
The sector had 131,000 vacancies on any given day in 2023-24. As well as filling those vacancies, we’re likely to need another 540,000 posts by 2040 just to keep up with the projected increase in the number of over-65s in the population.
Looking ahead, the issue is not just about capacity but also capability. The complexity of needs will increase and the way care is delivered will need to change. This includes focusing on preventing illness, healthcare activities currently delivered by the NHS, mental health and using digital technology. We’re going to need new and different roles and skills to meet these challenges.
There are many hurdles to overcome, and one of the biggest systemic challenges facing our sector is fragmentation. Adult social care has a fragmented market, with 18,500 different employers funded and commissioned by a range of sources. The training market for social care is also fragmented.
Skills development is not effectively recognised, with low hourly pay and a lack of pay progression for experienced care workers making it harder to attract, retain and develop good people.
Skills England’s first report correctly identified the critical demand in adult social care. But the occupational standards for social care need to change to reflect the increasingly complex needs and future skills of the workforce. Functional skills remain a barrier to raising the skill levels of the workforce, and more digital skills are needed.
Current apprenticeships and T levels do not cater well to the sector – the number of people starting adult social care apprenticeships has fallen by 76 per cent since 2016-17. Improving the supply of good-quality training and increasing portability between providers is also essential.
So, what can we do?
The white paper talks about the importance of workforce strategies – and the good news is that we have one for adult social care. Skills for Care developed it in collaboration with the whole social care sector, plus colleagues from education and health. It sets out a plan for building the workforce needed over the next 15 years and outlines the different skills required to meet increased and more complex demand.
The workforce strategy recommends expanding skills through the Care Workforce Pathway – the first universal career structure for the adult social care workforce, offering a vital framework for career progression, skills and learning. This must be used as the basis for occupational standards in adult social care.
It also recommends overhauling apprenticeships by examining funding and content. Additionally, continuing to roll out the level 2 adult social care certificate qualification will improve minimum competency standards and confidence in consistency of standards, and reduce repetition in induction training.
Digital skills also need to be incorporated into recruitment and career development. They’re pre-requisite for the digitisation of the sector and more innovative models of care – and demonstrate the need to recruit and retain young people with digital skills and interests in a sector with a 44.6 per cent turnover rate for under 25s.
The immigration white paper presents a call to action to get domestic recruitment and retention right in adult social care. To do that, we need to ensure the quality of roles and development opportunities are improved, because we know that qualifications and access to training are key factors in keeping the people we need.
Everyone working in social care should have the chance to develop, learn, and grow in their role. Creating the right skills landscape for this has never been so important.
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