Tackling the Social Care Workforce Crisis
Last Autumn I wrote a mini blog series about how we could think and act differently to tackle the crisis in the social care workforce and the large number of vacancies that are exacerbating pressures in the already over-stretched system. I examined why there’s a problem in the first place and provided some practical advice and solutions for changes we can make right now, as well as in the longer term, to recruit and retain more of the right people to work in social care. It’s heart breaking to hear on the news this morning that the social care workforce has reduced by a massive 50,000 this year. I’m taking the time to revisit some of my previous musings within the context of the last 12 months and say why I’ve changed my mind about one of my key arguments.
Let’s start with what is still undoubtedly true. People who work in social care are some of the best people you could possibly hope to meet. They genuinely care about people, they’re motivated to make a difference to peoples’ lives, they’re driven by values like compassion, kindness and positivity that make them a pleasure to be around and they’re true grafters. There is no simple solution or silver bullet to the workforce challenges in social care because it’s impacted by a complex range of issues. That said, there is definitely more that we can do within the sector to attract and retain more people to work within it.
I want to talk about pay. A year ago, I said that the primary issue was not about pay and we shouldn’t try to compete on pay within the sector. That was before we had a major cost of living crisis, before we saw energy prices rise beyond anything we’ve experienced, before fuel cost hikes and before people were worried about being able to pay their mortgages because of rising interest rates. Now everyone is talking about rates of pay. And people are stressed, and worried about how they will make ends meet this winter.
It used to be the case that there was a clear pay differential between entry level roles in social care and entry level roles in other sectors like hospitality and retail. This was in recognition of the skills and compassion needed to work in social care, the value it brings in impacting on people’s lives and that the job -as well as being rewarding - can be really tough. That pay differential has now gone. We’re seeing social care staff who love working in social care leave the sector because they can earn more in retail and hospitality and with things being so financially hard, they’re left with little choice if they want to make ends meet.
So whilst tackling social care workforce pressures is still about so much more than pay, until we address the issue of pay, the impact of all the other action we can take will be limited. Having a decent rate of pay is a fundamental foundation block to a sustainable workforce. The nature of the sector means that how much providers pay its workforce is impacted by what local authorities can afford to pay through commissioning which is ultimately impacted by how much Government investment is put into social care. So the crux of the matter is, that whilst there is lots of room for innovation in how we organise how social care works, changing the narrative, and changing how we recruit, support and develop the social care workforce, we need to get pay right.
Pay is fundamental
If we don’t pay social care workers appropriately, the impact of all our efforts to change & improve will be minimised
That’s not to say we should wait to do the other stuff until pay is sorted. We have to do everything in our power to address workforce pressures and I’m seeing and hearing no lack of effort on the part of providers and local authorities in doing this. Some of the big opportunities that we need to continue to explore include:
Changing the narrative - stop talking about the social care workforce crisis - who wants to come and work in a crisis? Stop talking about what a hard job it is and overly focusing on personal care. Start talking about the amazing difference that social care makes to people’s lives and the immense satisfaction that comes from doing that.
Be more explicit, deliberate and systematic in enabling career progression - people say that there aren’t career pathways in social care. It’s not true. There are so many people with so many stories about how they started work in front line social care and have progressed to a whole plethora of other roles - nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, registered managers, commissioners, senior managers, business owners - the list goes on. What we aren’t great at yet is showing what these pathways look like and recognising people as they develop in the early stages of their careers. It’s quite shocking that social care workers with more than 5 years’ experience earn only 7p an hour more than new starters. We need pathways that enable and recognise the skills and specialisms people develop as they become more experienced. And we need more visibility and easier routes that enable people to know what progression can look like and how to work towards it.
Work together across organisations to tackle workforce challenges together. How do we incentivise and enable independent providers to work together and support each other? This could be collaborating on recruitment drives, sharing “back office” support staff, working together for increased flexibility in who and how care packages are delivered, securing local contingency/pool staff to provide cover for sickness and agencies, sharing training and development. There are so many opportunities to collaborate but until we change our commissioning approaches to encourage collaboration and give providers more security, they will continue to compete within a local footprint.
Rethink how we design and deliver social care and social care roles - and do this with people who access social care support and our amazing workforce because they know best what works. The social care futures movement is doing create work to reimagine what social care could look like. There are great examples of local authorities and providers trying new things such as testing new and different roles, creating new career pathways and changing workplace cultures to ensure people feel valued, connected and supported. How do we share the learning and scale up the innovation in a way that makes working in social care a more attractive option?
Social Care is full of amazing, talented, caring, passionate people
The social care system might be creaking but it’s still full of amazing, talented, committed people who want to make a difference. And there’s a whole load of other people out there who share our values but don’t yet know that social care is for them.
It’s time to change the narrative that social care is a low paid, low status job that’s only about personal care and proudly position ourselves as the place to work if you want’ to make a difference to peoples’ lives, want to be enabled and empowered to play to your strengths and want to work in a job that is fundamentally all about people. It’s time for us to take some bold, innovative steps. It’s time for us to collaborate. But it’s also time to sort the issue of pay so that social care workers are recognised for the immense contribution they make to people’s lives and are able to work in roles that they are passionate about without worrying about how they will make ends meet.
