Today’s @skillsforcare workforce report shows the fragility of the #socialcare sector. Here’s a quick thread of 5 things in the report that ought to worry us…. https://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/adult-social-care-workforce-data/Workforce-intelligence/publications/national-information/The-state-of-the-adult-social-care-sector-and-workforce-in-England.aspx

1) Though pay is rising (the average careworker is now a whopping 26p an hour better off than last year ), they could still earn more as a cleaner or supermarket worker.

2) #Socialcare is valuing experience less. The average pay difference between a worker with 5 years’ experience and a new starter is now just 12p.

3) The report has some good news in that the #socialcare vacancy rate has fallen a little. But that still left 112,000 jobs open at any one time last year. The biggest problem is in #homecare

4) Though careworker vacancies have stabilised, they have increased for registered managers and nurses (there are 2,800 fewer nurses in #socialcare). Around one in 8 of these posts is vacant. Yet both of these groups are critical to care quality.

5) In the long term, we may need a lot more people in #socialcare. The report predicts demand for 520,000 more careworkers by 2035 to keep up with demand. Yet growth in jobs has been slowing in recent years.

It's not all grim. There are more, younger workers coming into #socialcare as a result of #Covid19 and there's little sign yet of a Brexit impact on migrant workers. But overall it's a worrying read. We need a long-term strategy to put it right.