An additional 650,000 workers will be needed by 2035 to keep up with the rising numbers of people aged 65 and over.
A new national recruitment campaign to help fill the 110,000 vacancies in the adult social care sector has launched by the Department of Health and Social Care.
The ‘Every Day Is Different’ campaign has been designed to how rewarding working in social care can be and highlights the opportunities for progression and professional development.
Over 1.45 million people work in the sector at the moment. It is predicted an additional 650,000 workers will be needed by 2035 to keep up with the rising numbers of people aged 65 and over.
Adult social care providers will be encouraged to engage with the campaign by providing case studies, advertising their vacancies on DWP Find a Job and promoting social media content using the hashtag #shareifyoucare.
The ‘Cinderella service’.
The Government is calling on staff to spread the word that being a career in adult social care can be rewarding, varied and worthwhile.
Caroline Dinenage, Minister of State for Care, said: “Adult social care is too often seen as the ‘Cinderella service’ to our NHS. I’m determined to change this perception, starting with our hardworking social care workforce.
“There is huge demand for more care professionals who work incredibly hard to look after the most vulnerable people in our society. We must spread the word that careers in adult social care can be rewarding, varied and worthwhile. Care is a vocation where you can transform people’s lives and every day is different to the next.
“Our national recruitment campaign will support care providers to recruit thousands more talented people. If you think a career in care could be for you, I urge you to look up the opportunities in your local area and become part of a vital and growing profession.”
‘A cut-price service lets down older people’.
The Royal College of Nursing has warned until the issue of poor pay and low morale is addressed social care will continue to have a high turnover of staff.
Dame Donna Kinnair, Acting Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “Those working in social care already will tell you that making it more of an attractive place to work requires hard cash investment as well as good PR.
“Registered nurses and care workers tell us they entered the sector with high hopes but in reality poorer pay than the NHS, low morale and precarious contracts led to them looking elsewhere. Until these fundamentals are addressed, social care will continue to have a high turnover of nursing staff.
“A cut-price service lets down older people and those who work hard to care for them. We will never get the kind of care we all want for our relatives until social care, rather than budget cuts, top the list of Government priorities.
“The Government must deliver long-term investment in the full health and social care system and end the pernicious ‘race to the bottom’ culture that sees unviable contracts handed back by providers, leaves staff feeling undervalued and vulnerable people given inadequate care.”