The National Care Forum (NCF), the leading association for not-for-profit social care, has responded to the publication by Skills for Care of The State of the Adult Social Care Sector and Workforce in England.
Vic Rayner OBE, CEO of NCF said: “While the data presented in this report shows a welcome stabilisation of some of the key metrics around the care workforce, we must not underestimate the role of international recruitment and the mammoth efforts of providers to improve pay, terms and conditions.
“It is important to recognise the dedicated international colleagues who have chosen to come to the UK to provide care and support to people who need it when there are so many other countries across the world crying out for care staff. However, when the impact of international recruitment is stripped out, the underlying statistics around pay, turnover and recruitment make clear that we are not in a sustainable situation, and we need a long-term solution to these systemic workforce issues.
“This is driven home when one considers that there are now 70,000 fewer British workers in direct care roles compared to 2021/22. In the same period there was an increase of 185,000 international recruits.
“The solutions to this domestic workforce crisis are in plain sight as presented in a workforce strategy for adult social care facilitated by Skills for Care and published in July 2024. This strategy was developed in collaboration with a wide range of organisations, including NCF, representatives of our membership and people with a stake in the future of care services. We call on the government to adopt, and fully fund, the strategy with urgency as it presents clear and deliverable methods that would create meaningful and sustainable change. We reiterate our offer to work together with the government as it develops its Fair Pay Agreement for care workers and a National Care Service – central to this will be the implementation of an actionable plan to ensure good quality, sustainable care is there when people need it most.”
