A recent nationwide workforce survey has revealed that care providers across the adult social care sector are continuing to face significant staffing challenges, with a concerning 71% reporting difficulties in recruiting new team members.
The survey, which ran from mid-August to mid-September 2024, gathered responses from nearly 5,000 registered care locations, spanning residential care homes, nursing homes, and domiciliary care services.
Responses were geographically widespread, with a notable concentration from providers in the North East and Yorkshire.
While recruitment remains a top concern, more than a third of respondents (37%) expressed doubt about whether they could maintain current service levels over the next six months.
Notably, more than half (58.6%) said their staffing situation had not changed since this time last year, pointing to a persistent and ongoing struggle.
The most commonly cited reason for recruitment and retention difficulties was the availability of higher-paying roles outside the adult social care sector.
More than one in four providers (27.8%) flagged this as a key recruitment barrier, with a slightly higher proportion (35.2%) identifying it as a factor in staff leaving the sector.
Domiciliary care services appear to be under more pressure than residential homes. Almost three-quarters (74%) of domiciliary care providers described recruitment as challenging, compared to 66.7% of residential care settings. Similarly, retention challenges were more frequently reported in domiciliary care (58.5%) than in residential settings (53.9%).
The issue of morale also plays a role. While over half (53%) of providers rated staff morale as generally positive, domiciliary services reported lower levels of morale than their residential counterparts. Nearly half (46.1%) of domiciliary settings said morale was low, compared to 41.4% in residential care.
A significant contributor to the current staffing crisis may be the drop in international recruitment. Government data indicates that the number of visas issued to care workers in the first quarter of 2024 plummeted by over 80% compared to the previous quarter—a steep decline that has made it harder for providers to fill essential roles.
Despite this, just over half of providers said they were not overly concerned about international recruitment over the next six months. However, many identified visa sponsorship as a barrier, citing the process as both expensive and administratively complex.
Interestingly, more than half of the respondents reported improved or stable access to agency staff compared to last year, offering some short-term relief for stretched teams. Still, the reliance on temporary workers is not a sustainable long-term solution and often comes with increased financial pressure.
The survey cites the main causes of staff leaving the sector are better pay and better hours available elsewhere, outside work commitments, lack of flexibility in hours worked, cost or distance of travel to work, and migration issues.
Crucial barriers to recruitment and retention include levels of pay compared to other sectors, access to childcare support, access to funding to pay for childcare support, DBS checks taking too long, access to transport, and immigration rule changes.
