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Skills for Care response to DHSC national recruitment campaign

05 Nov 2021

2 min read


The Department of Health and Social Care has this week launched their national recruitment campaign, aimed to attract more people to a career in social care.

The campaign entitled ‘Made with care’ highlights the rewards of working in social care.

Oonagh Smyth, CEO, Skills for Care says working in adult social care is rewarding and offers the opportunity to support people in your community and to develop into senior leadership positions if you want.

As we develop and implement reform for people working in adult social care, there is an opportunity for us to better recognise that these are highly-skilled and exciting careers. This campaign launches at a time when recruitment and retention is a key focus for adult social care.

The recruitment challenges are evident in the findings of our recent annual ‘State of the adult social care sector and workforce in England’ report, and we have heard from many employers that recruitment and retention has been increasingly difficult in recent months.

Our data shows that on average 6.8% of roles in adult social care were vacant in 2020/21, which is equivalent to 105,000 vacancies being advertised on any given day, and our data shows that vacancy rates are now back above their pre-pandemic levels.

We are pleased to see the DHSC campaign focusing on the important work that the 1.5million people working in adult social care do, celebrating the way they support people, and shining a light on the personal rewards of working in social care.

This campaign can play a vital role in raising awareness of the impact of social care on our communities and the rewarding opportunities that a career in social care offers. By improving the understanding of social care, the different opportunities to support older people and younger people at home and in the community and why people choose to work in the sector, we can attract more people to support others to live the lives they want in the place that they call home.

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