It’s no secret that the care sector is struggling to accommodate the needs of the nation.
From care workers being overworked and underpaid, to council struggles in recruiting new carers and reduced applications from overseas candidates due to a change in immigration rules.
A recent report from Adult Social Care Commissioning and Prevention shows that fewer carers are remaining in role due to longer hours, increased number of shifts and heightened pressures that have increased even beyond pandemic levels. Fewer staff in the field has driven the cost of agency staff to almost unaffordable levels and recruitment into full time roles is proving difficult for councils. An issue which hasn’t been helped by the recent tightening of UK immigration rules.
Latest figures from the Home Office have shown an 81% drop in visa applications following the ban on overseas social care workers bringing family dependents to the UK. Those who are sponsored by a Care Quality Commission registered organisation cannot bring their family if they are earning under £29,000. Skills for Care reports that there are 131,000 vacancies in social care, and figures suggest we will need to recruit an extra 540,000 care workers to cope with rising demand, by 2040. With the availability of overseas staff dwindling, it seems the crisis will worsen before it gets better.
So much so that Social Care providers are offering to help the Government create a new ‘golden age’ for older, vulnerable and disabled adults, urging Labour to draw on their wealth of experience, ideas and advice to create a new beginning for social care.
Mike Padgham, Chair of the care provider organisation, The Independent Care Group (ICG), says, “We need to find some quick-win solutions that will ease the crisis the sector is going through.” He explains that the sector is currently in a vacuum after the Government went back on a pre-election promise to introduce an £86,000 cap on social care costs, designed to prevent people from having to sell their home to pay for care. It also cut some social care training support, and the ICG says it isn’t too late to reverse those decisions and kick-start long overdue reform.
The nation too is looking for change, with the stand-out policy among voters backing an increase in the minimum wage for carers, aiming to improve recruitment, retention and quality of staff in the sector. When voters were asked whether they would be willing to pay more, either via general taxation or a rise in National Insurance, 54% said that they would. This was true even among younger voters aged 18-34, where 52% were in favour, and amongst the 35-49 age bracket, where 50% were willing to foot the care bill of older generations. Not surprisingly, those who have had to arrange care for a parent were even more strongly in favour, with 70% willing to pay more to help avert the crisis.
Care England have this month launched their survey for Sector Pulse Check 2024, an annual report analysing the financial health and workforce challenges faced by the adult social care sector. This will provide vital data to illustrate the ongoing challenges and update on the findings of last year’s survey, which had some concerning results. 43% of providers had closed services or handed back contracts, with 18% of providers offering care to fewer people and 39% of providers considering exiting the market altogether.
Building up a domestic workforce won’t happen overnight, and as we approach winter, when staffing levels in health and social care are always placed under the greatest demand, there are concerns about how we will cope.
Mike Padgham at the IGC concluded that, “We have to give the Government the benefit of the doubt, but we do need to see some positive steps to reassure the social care sector that it hasn’t been abandoned. The most urgent priority is to address the pay of social care staff and staff shortages that are harming the delivery of care. However it is done, we must switch funding into social care delivery to get better pay rewards and recognition for the staff, or we won’t be able to meet the current demand for care, let alone the huge rise in demand that is coming.”