Care sector under 'immense pressure' with rising workforce gap

The adult social care sector could face a shortfall of one million workers in the next twenty years due to restrictions on immigration and a failure to attract British workers, according to a report published by Independent Age and the International Longevity Centre - UK (ILC-UK).

The charity has warned that this figure will continue to increase unless efforts are made to recruit more overseas staff and retain those already working in the UK.

Commenting on the growing need for the contribution of migrant workers, Simon Bottery, director of policy at Independent Age, said: “Without action, there is a real risk of care services worsening as providers fail to fill job vacancies and staff struggle to cope with increasing demand. That can only be bad news for the older people who rely on these services to carry out basic tasks like eating and dressing.

“We need to recognise the current reliance of social care on migrant workers and make it easier for them to work here but also look to the sector’s longer-term future. The Government must use the upcoming Spending Review to invest in social care so it can attract more UK workers, while at the same time exploring new ways of caring for our ageing population in the future.”

The report titled ‘Moved to Care’ has revealed the impact of recent restrictions on migration and a continued failure to attract more UK born workers to social care.

At present, approximately 1.45 million people work in the adult social care sector in England, however the report found that the nation is struggling to recruit and retain staff. Nearly one in twenty positions in adult social care in England are currently vacant.

The report has also highlighted that a rapidly ageing population and significant cuts to social care funding are placing the sector under ‘immense pressure’.

According to Age UK, the number of people aged 80 and over is expected to increase to over five million by 2037, while social care funding has been reduced by nearly 11 per cent in the last five years.

Additional findings, based on statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the National Minimum Data Set for Social Care (NMDS-SC), have revealed:

• One in five adult social care workforce in England were born outside of the United Kingdom, which includes 150,000 working in residential care homes and 81,000 working in adult domiciliary care;

• 1,700 highly skilled professionals currently working in adult social care may have to leave the UK as a result of an earnings threshold of £35,000 which comes into force from April 2016;

• Non-EU migrants account for the greatest proportion of migrants working in adult social care – approximately one in every seven care workers.

'Staffing crisis'

Davina Ludlow, director of carehome.co.uk, a leading online guide to care homes, commented: "Today’s report is another stark reminder of how vital it is for the sector to attract and inspire more care workers.

"Care workers do a valuable and essential job, and will often be the sole source of companionship and support for the vulnerable people they look after.

"We hope that the National Living Wage due to be implemented next April will encourage more people to work and stay in the care sector, although we are very worried about the impact this will have on providers if the Government fails to increase social care funding.

"Caring should be seen as a vocation, and not just a job. We all need to work together to resolve the staffing crisis, or these shortages could lead to a catastrophic collapse."

Independent Age and ILC-UK have called for action to attract more UK-born workers to the care sector and to make it easier for social care providers to recruit from overseas. The report sets out the changes that could help reduce the workforce gap. These include:

• Investing in training, apprenticeships and career development to make adult social care an attractive career choice for UK born workers;

• Adding highly skilled roles in the adult social care sector to the UK’s Shortage Occupation List, making them easier for employers to recruit from overseas;

• Allow low-skilled migrant workers to enter the social care workforce by opening up the Tier 3 visa route.

Head of economics of Ageing at ILC-UK, Ben Franklin, added: “Enabling migrant workers to fill workforce gaps is one part of the solution, but it is no silver bullet. We ensure that the sector is able to attract more UK and foreign born workers alike.

“This will require a substantive shift in the direction of policy as well as a change in public perceptions about what working in care is like. The alternative will be a degradation in the quality of care and an increasing reliance on family carers. If this is the future, it will have dire implications for those needing care, their family members and the wider economy.”