Using data to understand and support culture and diversity

Using data to analyse your workforce and organisation is an important part of workforce planning. We look at what data can tell you about equality, diversity, and inclusion to support a positive workplace culture.

What data tells us

In our latest ‘State of the adult social care sector and workforce in England’ report we can see:

• there are 165,000 vacant posts ready for people to have a career in social care
• there has been a decrease in the number of filled posts, which is the first recorded decrease in the number of care workers
• our workforce is made up of 82% female workers; the average age is 45; and 23% of the workforce identify as Black, Asian and minority ethnic
• social care was placed on the Shortage Occupation List leading to 11% of new workers arriving from outside the UK
• 26% of regulated professional are non-British.

What this means for workforce planning

Workforce planning starts with workforce thinking. Forecasting and thinking ahead, ensuring that we have the right people with the right skills, identifying gaps and future need, is an essential process for a healthy vibrant social care sector. It’s so important as part of impactful workforce planning to recruit more diverse talent, as individuals are more likely to want to work for diverse organisations. This broadens appeal to potential candidates and helps towards recruiting people who have the same inclusive values. It also makes good business!

In 2021/22 around 84% of the adult social care workforce identified as British, 7% (103,000 filled posts) identified as an EU nationality and 9% (143,000 filled posts) identified as having a non-EU nationality. On average, the adult social care sector showed a slightly greater reliance on non-EU workers than EU workers.

The adult social care sector is more diverse than the population of England in terms of nationality, with 16% of people working in adult social care in England having a non-British nationality, compared to 8% of the population.

In February 2022 care workers were added to the Shortage Occupation List and the Health and Care Worker Visa route. This means that providing workers meet the salary threshold of £20,480 and have a licensed sponsor, they can come to the UK to take up care worker roles.

Early evidence from care providers using the Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set (ASC-WDS) in 2022/23 suggests that around 47% of filled care worker posts in adult social care are paid above this threshold amount. Data collected in ASC-WDS, since care workers were added to the shortage occupation list, showed more people were arriving in the UK to take up adult social care jobs. In 2022, between February and August, 11% of workers new to their role within the year had also arrived in the UK within the year. This compared to around 5% pre-pandemic.

International recruitment provides an additional option for employers to recruit care workers and it’s already helped to fill some vacancies. It’s estimated (using ASC-WDS data between February and August 2022) that approximately 10,000-15,000 people have moved to the UK to take up care worker roles. Employers, in the meantime, need to think through how to welcome and support all new workers.

As this policy is relatively new, more employers could start to use this option once they’ve met all the requirements (such as becoming a licensed sponsor) and assess the costs and benefits for their organisations. International recruitment is a government priority, and the Government has announced £15 million to support this process. Skills for Care is one of the partners in the supporting process.

Workforce planning is important to identify what staff (number and skills) you will need now and, in the future, to meet the needs of your organisation.

Using data can help you to better understand the demographics of your team and the wider sector, to identify any gaps so that you can recruit and retain the right mix of people with the right skills and values.

Data and engagement also support leaders to think about and understand the organisational culture. Culture and diversity should always form a part of effective workforce planning. Begin with asking the question - is your organisation a place where all different people, feel they belong, one where they feel supported, able to thrive and progress their careers?

This all helps with good workforce planning and retention. By reviewing your workforce and seeing how diverse it is, and how you might address the balance of diversity within your organisation, it contributes to being representative to the population you serve.

Find out more about workforce planning with our #PlanningForSuccess spotlight.

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