Adult social care vacancies down but domestic recruitment still ‘challenging'
The Government has previously pledged to 'end the reliance on overseas recruitment' but Skills for Care's latest report has said there must be a focus on 'how we attract and keep more people domestically'.
In the most recent year alone, the twelve months to March, the number of posts filled by British nationals fell by 30,000, the organisation, which is the strategic workforce development and planning body for adult social care in England, said.
The organisation measures posts filled rather than the number of people, because a person might hold more than one post and roles might also be shared.
In rules which came into effect last week, new applications for care workers and senior care workers under the skilled worker visa were closed, as part of Government efforts in 'restoring control over the immigration system'.
In April the Government implemented new rules saying that care providers would have to prove they had attempted to recruit a worker from within England, before looking overseas.
The latest Skills for Care report said domestic recruitment 'remains challenging for the sector' and that the new immigration rules from July 'will make it more challenging for the sector to continue to grow in line with demand'.
The organisation re-stated its previous projection that an extra 470,000 people will need to be employed in the sector by 2040 to meet the needs of a growing older population.
The report said: 'A substantial increase in recruitment and retention of staff with a British nationality would likely be required to achieve this level of growth.'
Under the previous Conservative government, a ban on international care workers bringing dependants to the UK led to a sharp drop in health and care visas in the months after the measure came in.
The latest Skills for Care report said an estimated 50,000 people arrived in the UK in 2024/25 to start direct care-providing roles in the independent sector, down from 105,000 the previous year.
Of the 50,000 recruited internationally, an estimated 10,000 came on a health and care worker visa, while the rest came on other routes, potentially including student visas and family members of people arriving in the UK on other visa types.
Overall, the number of adult social care posts filled between 2023/24 and 2024/25 rose by 52,000 to 1.6 million.
The vacancy rate has also fallen to 7.0%, with 111,000 vacant posts on any given day in the year to March.
This is down from an 8.3% vacancy rate in the year to March 2024, when there were 126,000 vacant posts on any given day.
The vacancy rate hit a high of 152,000 vacant posts a day in the 12 months to March 2022.
Oonagh Smyth, Skills for Care's chief executive, said while the falling vacancy rate is 'encouraging', the sector 'can't afford to be complacent'.
She said: 'We need to protect ourselves from the wild swings in vacancy rates driven by the wider economic picture.
'It's important to recognise that, while the vacancy rate in social care has reduced, it's still three times that of the wider economy.'
She urged investment in 'stable recruitment and retention' and efforts to make roles 'more attractive to the domestic workforce over the long term' including through development opportunities, improving the quality of roles and supporting positive cultures within organisations.
She added: 'We know there's lots more to do, though. Everyone, from Government to care providers, from regulators to frontline staff, has a role to play in building the workforce we need to deliver the best possible care and support for the people in our communities who draw on local services.'
The Government has been contacted for comment.
The Social Care Institute for Excellence said the drop in the vacancy rate was a 'cause for optimism' but the system remained 'precariously dependent' on overseas workers.
Chief executive Kathryn Marsden said: 'This overreliance is not a sustainable strategy and it leaves the entire care system vulnerable to policy changes and political headwinds beyond its control.'
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