Supporting resources
What is social care?
Adult social care is the care and support commissioned by local authorities or individuals who need support to be able to live their lives. This includes older people and working aged people with learning disabilities, mental ill health, physical disabilities, drug and alcohol problems, autistic people and unpaid carers. There are many distinct roles in adult social care.
Estimated number of adult social care filled posts by individual job roles
Source: Skills for Care estimates from the State of the adult social care sector and workforce in England, 2023.
Local authorities lead the safeguarding of adults (under the Care Act), with others who share responsibility for identifying potential harm. Mental health and mental capacity laws (including the Mental Health Act) require assessments for hospital stays, community restrictions and capacity limitations.
Adult social care helps people in their homes, in care homes, through day services and with equipment and technology. It might be paid for by a local authority, by the individual or through a personal budget and direct payment (where the budget goes to the person who is drawing on social care to manage).
Over 20 years, the type of support has changed to include people choosing their own carers and the support they need (once they are assessed as eligible), and more people getting support to regain independence after illness (reablement). We are also seeing more emphasis on integrating health and social care to better meet the needs of individuals including through the development of integrated care systems (ICSs).
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The Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care in England is also available in PDF format. Follow the link above to download the Strategy.
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To develop a Workforce Strategy, we need to understand the current and likely future expectations of those working in adult social care. Shown here are a set of reasonable assumptions based on evidence about likely future developments.
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Skills for Care have acted swiftly to meet the ‘Train’ recommendation to streamline statutory and mandatory training requirements. Skills for Care are working with CQC who will signpost to and share the new guidance, meanwhile the guidance is available to access now.