A year in care
17 Dec 2024
6 min read
- Learning and development
- Digital
- Workforce development
We share a roundup of some of the most important and promising projects we’ve been working on in 2024.
This year has been an exciting one for adult social care, with plenty of work being done that promises to help the sector progress towards a more stable future. We wanted to put together an overview of the past 12 months and give you some insight into what we believe to be some of the year’s most impactful work.
Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care
This year marked a significant milestone for adult social care as it came together to develop its own Workforce Strategy. Launched in July, the Strategy aims to ensure that we have the right number of skilled people to provide high-quality care and support to those who draw on it. This essential Strategy was built through a truly collaborative effort, relying on the expertise, time, and dedication of hundreds of stakeholders.
The Workforce Strategy is one of the biggest opportunities we have to advocate for our sector. By promoting the implementation of its recommendations, we’re hopeful that we can push for better working conditions for social care staff and better outcomes for those being supported.
At Skills for Care, we dedicated an entire month to looking at Workforce Strategy through our ‘Driving change in social care’ campaign. You might want to check out some of our favourite articles to understand how the Workforce Strategy is impacting young people, regulated professionals and workplace wellbeing.
What the data says about our sector this year
This year was yet another year of growth for adult social care. Our annual ‘State of the adult social care sector and workforce in England’ report, which was published in October, showed the total number of posts in adult social care in England stood at 1.84 million - an increase of 2.6% (47,000 posts) from 2022/23.
As of 2023/24, there were 1.705 million filled posts in adult social care. This was the highest number since Skills for Care records began and an increase of around 4% (70,000 filled posts) from 2022/23.
24.2% of people working in care left their jobs in 2023/24. Among independent and local authority employers – for whom records go back the furthest - the turnover rate fell to below 1 in 4 (24.8%) for the first time since 2014/15, down from 29.1% the previous year.
The number of men working in the female-dominated sector reached a record high, with men accounting for 21% of the workforce. It’s the first time that men have represented more than a fifth of the workforce since records began – the proportion had been static at 18% from 2012/13 until 2022/23, when it rose for the first time, to 19%.
However, it’s important to note that these positive statistics are mainly due to the record level of international recruitment, and the sector is still struggling with domestic recruitment and retention. The year saw 105,000 international recruits starting direct care providing roles in the independent sector and the number of people in the workforce with a British nationality shrinking by 30,000. Over the two years since March 2022, 185,000 international recruits joined, and the number of British workers fell by 70,000.
These are just some of the biggest headlines from our report. Be sure to check out our data visualisations and the full report to find out more.
Statutory and mandatory training update
As part of our commitment to the Workforce Strategy, we’ve updated our ‘Statutory and Mandatory Training Guide’. The Strategy emphasised the need for streamlining and clarity around training obligations for social care organisations. To support this, we reviewed the guide, which was produced in partnership with a panel of social care employers, learning providers, and representative organisations, to ensure it’s up to date and offers concise guidance.
You can read our recent article to learn more about the changes and why they’re important.
Induction toolkit launch
Our Induction toolkit launched in May of this year and is intended to support managers plan and deliver a supportive and inclusive induction for new starters at all levels across adult social care. This toolkit will support you to offer a robust induction to fully support new starters and ensure you create the right first impression.
We put together a handy article that introduces the toolkit and gives you more insight into why it was developed.
Social Care Workforce Race Equality Standard
The Social Care Workforce Race Equality Standard (SC-WRES) supports organisations to address evidence and make progress towards race equality. It requires local authorities to collect and submit data on an annual basis on the experiences of Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic staff. We published a report on the impact of the programme’s first year of delivery in March.
We put together some great articles this year that feature voices of those involved in the SC-WRES:
The Care Workforce Pathway
The Care Workforce Pathway was launched at the start of this year and aims to set out what a career in social care means and the level of knowledge, experience and skills required to deliver high-quality, personalised, care and support. It empowers people working in social care to develop themselves and their career by setting out how they can progress in their careers in a way that meets their aspirations.
We’re continuing to work in partnership with the Department for Health and Social Care to develop the Pathway further, providing more helpful guidance to care providers on how they can develop their staff.
Our regular campaigns
Our campaigns focus on a variety of topics that are relevant to social care providers, those working in social care and those receiving support. You can keep an eye on our website’s blog section for guest articles, insight and guidance every week throughout the year.
2025 and beyond
These are just a handful of the exciting and informative projects and activities that we’ve worked on throughout the year. We’re proud to have spent another 12 months supporting the adult social care sector and look forward to what 2025 has in store for our sector!
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