New social care workforce plan: key takeaways for nursing
A long-awaited workforce plan for social care has been published, setting ambitious targets for the government on nurse recruitment, retention, and many more key areas of need in the sector.
Skills for Care, the national strategic workforce development and planning body, has published its Workforce Strategy For Adult Social Care In England today.
“A workforce strategy isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have if we’re going to build the workforce we need for the future”
Oonagh Smyth
The document sets out details on the increasing demand social care faces, the sector’s high turnover and vacancy rates for staff, and the need for a cohesive sector-wide plan to address them.
In total, the strategy made more than 40 recommendations to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), the Care Quality Commission, the Local Government Association, the Department of Work and Pensions, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), and other social care stakeholders.
It was launched alongside Skills for Care’s workforce data, which found vacancy rates were falling but that they remained stubbornly high – around three times that of the UK average.
The data also suggested that around 5.4% of all jobs in England were in social care between April 2023 and March 2024.
Professor Oonagh Smyth, chief executive of Skills for Care, said the case for change was “clear”, and that significant workforce investment is needed to match demand.
“A workforce strategy isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have if we’re going to build the workforce we need for the future,” said Ms Smyth, following the report’s publication.
“As the prime minister noted during the election campaign, reform of social care needs to start with the workforce – so we’re looking forward to working with the government on the areas where their support will be crucial to bringing this game-changing Strategy to life.”
On nursing, the workforce strategy outlined the importance of attracting and retaining more registered nurses and nursing associates in social care.
Skills for Care’s data suggested that there was a higher-than-average turnover and vacancy rate for registered nurses, compared to the wider staff base in social care.
Furthermore, the number of filled posts for nurses was found to have fallen in the last decade. The strategy called for a five-year programme, starting in 2025, to attract more registered nursing staff.
This would involve the DHSC working with relevant organisations to increase the number of student nurses, nursing associate students and apprenticeships, and to “develop opportunities” to get more newly-qualified registrants into the social care sector.
In addition, the strategy said this programme would ensure integrated care systems (ICSs) had a responsibility to create a pipeline from registered nursing education to social care work.
This would also require any national work on improving nursing and nursing associate apprenticeships to include social care, not just health.
To improve retention, the workforce report asked for measures such as the commissioning of a programme to improve pay, work-life balance and career development in the social care sector.
The NMC was recommended to encourage organisations to better support internationally educated staff and to include equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in reports on social care provider quality.
In a similar area, the plan also asked that sector stakeholders implement a Social Care Workforce Race Equality Standard and take other, broader, measures to improve staff wellbeing.
Royal College of Nursing general secretary and chief executive Professor Nicola Ranger said a strategy for socila care was welcome, and that it showed what the new UK Government must do.
Speaking specifically on the nursing recommendations, she said: “Recognising the vital contributions of registered nurses, nursing associates and those in other nursing roles is critical to social care’s success.
“An effective workforce strategy must be fully funded, evidence-led and include specific interventions, modelled, tested, and assessed against the needs of the population.
“More must be done to outline roles and responsibilities across the sector, including those of local government,” she said.
Professor Ranger added: “People are living longer with increasingly complex care needs, but governments of every colour have been unwilling to grapple with this issue for decades.
“Today’s ministers cannot afford to take the same approach.”
Skills for Care’s report said more consistency was needed on pay for the social care workforce in general.
It suggested that a central-government led system, with input from commissioners (local authorities), worker representatives (unions) and employers would help, to this end.
This should, Skills for Care said, begin immediately with an improvement in base pay for care workers and a “fair pay agreement” for adult social care, the latter of which matches an announcement made by the government in Wednesday’s King’s Speech, indicating such a plan is already in motion.
The report mentioned the currently high level of international recruitment, and called for more “ethical” methods of doing this.
Skills for Care recommended that a “transition plan” be formed to increase domestic recruitment and reduce the reliance on international recruitment, which can be detrimental to the countries exporting particularly registered nursing staff.
Several recommendations were also made to homogenise workforce planning in the future, with concerns levelled at the current fragmented state of social care.
Skills for Care asked central government to support and mandate updates to a social care workforce plan in the future, similar to the expected frequent changes to the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.
As well as this, it asked that adult social care was “prioritised” by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and a host of other measures to bring the sector closer together, akin to health.
Social care leaders, from a range of bodies representing the sector, welcomed the report and backed its recommendations.
Care England chief executive Professor Martin Green said: “There is no single solution to the care sector’s workforce crisis, and no single body is responsible for ensuring that social care is a profession of choice.
“What’s needed is a strategic approach to the workforce across the social care sector, and this workforce strategy delivers just that,” he said.
“Skills for Care is to be commended for developing this strategy, which should act as a framework to ensure all parts of the system work collaboratively.
“Only then can we deliver a professionally qualified workforce that has the recognition and respect that it so clearly deserves,” he added.
Powerful voices within the NHS, too, were receptive. Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, described that strategy as an “important document” for the future of adult social care.
“Since the publication of the NHS’ Long Term Workforce Plan 12 months ago, workforce leaders in the NHS have been consistent in their view that an equivalent plan for their colleagues in social care was urgently required,” he said.
“Whilst it is disappointing that the previous government did not accept this case, it is hugely positive that Skills for Care showed leadership in establishing and now publishing this work.
“This ambitious document sets a clear agenda for the new government as it considers long-term plans for social care and health,” he added.
Meanwhile, NHS Providers chief executive Sir Julian Hartley said: “Social care is beset with challenges including stubbornly high staff vacancy rates and rising demand. We continue to ignore this at our peril.
“This strategy could be the turning point we so greatly need. It provides a clear vision to bolster the workforce and put the sector on a sustainable footing.”
Sir Julian added: “The NHS and social care go hand in hand. If both do not function properly, neither one will.”
