Foreword
We all want to live in the place we call home, with the people and things that we love, in communities where we look out for one another, doing the things that matter to us.
Social Care Future
We rely on people working in social care, often at critical times in our lives; social care improves the lives of more than 10 million people in England, it reduces the need for NHS treatment, and it contributed almost £68.1 billion to the economy in England in 2023/24 - more than double the £32 billion cost of social care in England.
The social care workforce is at the heart of supporting people to live fulfilling lives, providing essential support that people need, delivered with care, skill, commitment and compassion.
Yet, there are 131,000 vacancies in social care on any given day.
540,000 extra posts are likely to be needed in social care by 2040 to keep up with the projected increase in the number of over-65s.
430,000 of these posts are likely to be needed by 2035. Alongside this, some of the skills and roles we will need the adult social care workforce of the future, are not the ones we have today.
Change cannot wait. Social care is part of the solution in achieving the Government’s three mission shifts in health - from analogue to digital, hospital to community and from sickness to prevention. It is important in the plans for a National Care Service.
The Workforce Strategy aims to make sure that - over the 15-year period it covers - there are enough people working in social care with the right training, skills, qualifications and pay to meet the changing and increasing needs of our population, whilst ensuring that people working in social care feel valued for the work they do.
One year on from the launch of the Workforce Strategy, we have reviewed the recommendations to reflect the changing context in social care. This showed that the Workforce Strategy remains important and relevant, and momentum is building, with over half of the recommendations now in progress and more than 400 people signed up to be Workforce Strategy champions.
The success of the Workforce Strategy in tackling some of the sector’s biggest workforce challenges, relies on the unwavering commitment from system leaders - sector partners and Oversight Executive Group members - in driving forward and delivering recommendations within the Strategy.
Equality, diversity and inclusion are vital for a thriving social care workforce and good quality social care. People from a Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic community represent 32% of the adult social care workforce compared to 19% of the population of England, making social care as a sector more diverse.
While included in the strategy, along with recommendations around the Social Care Workforce Race Equality Standard (SC-WRES), we recognise the need to strengthen equity and co-production going forward, through implementation of the Strategy.
Government also has a crucial role to play in the Workforce Strategy, but it is not intended as a shopping list from the sector. Organisations across the sector can - and already are - implementing the strategy and make change happen in the spaces they operate in. But it is essential that as system leaders we continue to deliver on the recommendations within the Strategy and we want to partner with government to ensure that together, we achieve sustained and transformational change in social care, both now and into the future.
Professor Oonagh Smyth and Sir David Pearson.
Co-chairs of the Workforce Strategy Steering Group.