Recommendations made for adult social care sector experiencing “severe and sustained” recruitment crisis, mental ill health and chronic stress

Care England has published recommendations for a “sustainable future” for adult social care, amid warnings of a recruitment and retention crisis within the sector.

The report, Care For Our Future, describes the adult social care workforce as being in a “severe and sustained crisis”, with 152,000 vacancies in the sector, a vacancy rate (9.9%) three times greater than the average for other sectors, and a turnover rate of 30%.

The report attributes low pay, a lack of career progression and “inconsistency in terms and conditions compared to NHS roles” to the ongoing recruitment and retention problem, noting that recent government initiatives to improve workforce conditions have been “sporadic and inadequate”.

Making recommendations for improvement, the report said that within 100 days, the next government should:

• Mandate the professional registration of adult social care staff in England.
• Introduce ‘Zero-rate’ VAT for welfare services in England.
• Mandate direct adult social care representation at all ICS levels in England.

Within two years, the next Government should:

• Implement a fully funded £15 minimum care wage and develop parity of esteem with NHS staff.
• Close the Fair Cost of Care funding gap and repeat the exercise at a sector-wide level.
• Publish a strategy for hospital discharge which introduces a national tariff of £1,500 per week.

And finally, within five years, the next Government should:

• Consolidate reforms within a fully funded, long-term adult social care workforce plan.
• Deliver a long-term adult social care funding settlement, with a £10bn annual funding boost.
• Deliver a fully-mapped prevention and integration plan.

The report noted that pay rates within adult social care roles remain the “principal barrier” to the recruitment and retention of staff, with three-quarters (75%) of providers stating that low pay was the key driving force behind members of their workforce leaving in 2022.

Responding to Care England's report, Cllr David Fothergill, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “Our incredible adult social care staff go to extraordinary lengths to provide vital care and support to millions of people, despite facing immense challenges.

“Social care faces a huge recruitment and retention crisis, the demands on which will only increase unless care vacancies are filled. A dedicated plan to promote, protect, support and develop careers in social care, alongside better pay, terms and conditions, would both strengthen the wellbeing and recognition of those who work in this essential vocation, as well as benefit the people who draw on care.”

This comes as research published this week by the British Psychological Society (BPS) and British Association of Social Workers (BASW) revealed that councils in England lost over 500,000 working days to mental ill-health and stress among their social care staff last year.

Councils disclosed following a Freedom of Information request that poor mental health and stress accounted for 30% of sickness absence among local authority adults’ and children’s services staff in 2021-22.

BASW found a lack of funding for social care (68%), recruitment and retention problems (54%) and cuts to local services (42%) were pinpointed as the “biggest concerns for the profession as a whole”.

A spokesperson for BASW England said: "Feedback from BASW social workers consistently underscores the challenges faced by social care workers, including high caseloads, chronic stress, and insufficient resources.

"The wellbeing of our social care workforce should be a top priority, and we call upon healthcare leaders and policymakers to allocate the necessary resources and funding to address these issues and provide much-needed support to those who care for our most vulnerable in our society."