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The size and structure of the adult social care sector and workforce in England 2011

 

The following report has been produced by Skills for Care and aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the size and structure of the adult social care sector and workforce in England as at 2010. Skills for Care aim to update these estimates on an annual basis.

Much of the detail from these analyses comes from the National Minimum Data Set for Social Care (NMDS-SC). Increased volumes and quality of data held by the NMDS-SC means these estimates are the most detailed and reliable to date.

It also means that workforce estimates for those working in adult social care are provided at CSSR (Council with Social Services Responsibilities) level for the first time (see Appendix 4 download below).

 

Summary of key findings

Organisations and Establishments

  • An estimated 21,900 organisations were involved in providing or organising adult social care in England in 2010.
  • An estimated 48,300 establishments employed adult social care staff to provide and/or organise adult social care in England in 2010.
  • The total number of adult social care organisations was estimated to have increased by 0.5% between 2009 and 2010. The number of social care establishments was estimated to have increased by 2.6% over the same period.
  • 153,791 adults and older people were receiving direct payments from councils' social services departments in 2010 (March).
  • The total number of direct payments recipients increased by 35% between March 2009 and 2010.

 

The Workforce

  • The number of jobs in adult social care in England in 2010 was estimated at 1.77 million.
  • The actual number of people doing these jobs was estimated at 1.56 million.
  • The total number of adult social care jobs was estimated to have increased by around 7% between 2009 and 2010.
  • Excluding jobs for direct payments recipients, the estimated increase in adult social care jobs was 1.9% between 2009 and 2010.
  • The number of jobs in adult social care is projected to grow by between 24% and 82% between 2010 and 2025. This means there could be between 2.1 million and 3.1 million jobs by 2025 (based on Skills for Care 2010 estimates).

 

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all the people who have contributed to this report. Particular thanks are due to Kevin Mahoney of Diagnostic Decision for producing the workforce projection model, updating the jobs to people estimates and creating the regression models used for the CSSR level estimates.

 

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