The government needs to boost funding for social work bursaries, placements and apprenticeships to attract more people into the profession and tackle persistently high vacancy and turnover rates.
It should also invest in the development of social workers at different levels, while also taking action to tackle racial inequalities in the social care workforce.
That was the message from sector leaders in a 15-year strategy for the adult social care workforce in England, released today.
15-year strategy for adult social care workforce
The strategy was developed by Skills for Care in collaboration with a steering group of sector leaders, which included former chief social worker for adults Lyn Romeo, British Association of Social Workers (BASW) chief executive Ruth Allen and her Social Work England equivalent Colum Conway.The plan is designed to set out how the sector should respond to increases and changes in need, along with developments in the workforce and education systems, over the coming decade and a half. It projected that the sector would need an additional 540,000 staff by 2040, based on the increase in the number of people aged over 65 over that period.
While its primary focus was on the care workforce, it also covered the challenges facing social work with adults.
Latest Skills for Care data showed that the number of adult social workers employed by councils reached a record high in September 2023, of 18,500, up 7% on 12 months previously.
'Insufficient' social workers
However, while the vacancy rate fell during the same period, it was still comparatively high, at 10.5%, while annual turnover stood at 14.5%.At the same time, planned reforms to the adult social care charging system, including capping people's personal care costs, would require authorities to employ many more practitioners to carry out the requisite additional assessments and reviews.
"Social care relies on 23,500 social workers for complex and vital tasks like assessments, care planning and safeguarding and we do not currently have sufficient numbers," said the strategy. "They are responsible for safeguarding and undertaking vital roles like approved mental health professionals and best interest assessors."
To address the shortages, the strategy called for action to attract more people into the profession and in developing existing practitioners and practice leaders.
Government urged to boost bursaries
It said the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Department for Education (DfE) should work with BASW, Social Work England and Skills for Care to "build a clearer pathway into social work", including through developing programmes to attract new applicants.To encourage more people to study social work, it called for increases to social work bursaries and the education support grant, which funds practice placements, as well as greater investment in social work apprenticeships.
The cash value of bursaries for university students and of the ESG has been frozen since 2014, while the number of awards has been capped at 2,500 per year for undergraduates and 1,500 for master's students since 2013.
At the same time, the government directly funds more generous bursaries for students going through the three fast-track training schemes: Frontline's Approach Social Work programme, Think Ahead and Step Up to Social Work.
Investment urged in social work development
The strategy also called for "investment in social work development", including in bolstering roles such as social work assistants and consultant social workers.It also made similar recommendations for adult social care occupational therapists and for the DHSC to maintain investment in a leadership programme for principal social workers, principal OTs and AMHP leads, launched earlier this year.
In addition, the strategy called for the DHSC and DfE to mandate and fund the rollout of the social care workforce race equality standard (SC-WRES) across all local authorities in 2025-26, at an estimated cost of £500,000.
The SC-WRES involves employers collecting data on racial inequalities in their social care workforces and developing action plans to tackle them.
The last round of the SC-WRES found that black, Asian and minority ethnic social care staff faced disproportionately high levels of workplace bullying, disciplinary action and fitness to practise referrals.
It also flagged up that they were less likely than white counterparts to be appointed to jobs from shortlists and less represented in senior management than in the wider workforce.
Social care workforce 'lacks inclusivity'
"Social care is diverse but lacks inclusivity, especially in management where people from ethnic minorities are underrepresented and face discrimination and limited development," said the strategy."The social care workforce race equality standard (SC-WRES) helps local authorities address race inequality by collecting data on key indicators and developing action plans for improvement."
While the scheme was initially funded by the DHSC, it ceased resourcing it in 2022, prompting Skills for Care to take ownership of the programme and resource it itself from last year.
Twenty-three authorities (15% of the total) completed the WRES in 2023, though Skills for Care has sought to widen uptake in 2024-25.
What else did the workforce strategy propose?
- The government should take action, starting now, to improve the pay and quality of role for people working in social care, in partnership with councils, unions and employers. This is designed to boost recruitment and retention, based on research showing that a 5% rise in sector pay would lead to a 9-11% boost in employment levels, other things being equal (source: University of Kent and London School of Economics and Political Science).
- Government departments should work with the sector to develop a transition plan to reduce reliance on overseas staff by supporting better domestic recruitment and retention. This is based on the belief that global competition for workers and the need of other countries to retain more staff to meet their own needs will reduce the supply of international staff to the UK.
- There should be a 10-year plan to attract younger people, men and those with technology skills into the sector, on the grounds that social care will need to broaden its appeal to underrepresented groups to meet its future workforce needs.
- The DHSC should consider a national leadership programme to attract graduates and career changers into leadership roles in the sector.
- The DHSC should commission the development of a 'people promise' for staff working in adult social care, setting out what they can expect on pay, security of income, career development and work-life balance, in order to boost retention.
- The DHSC should continue to roll out the care certificate qualification to support new starters to achieve a level 2 qualification (equivalent to a good GCSE), with the aim of 80% of new direct care staff holding the qualification within five years (2029). As of March 2023, just 42% of care workers held a level 2 qualification.
- It should also work with employers, from 2025, to develop programmes so that 80% of all direct care staff are competent at level 3 (equivalent to A-level) within five years (2030).
- The Department for Education should overhaul apprenticeships in adult social care in the light of high dropout rates, low achievement rates and a 75% reduction in the number of apprenticeships since 2016.
- There should be a statutory requirement for the health and social care secretary to lay before Parliament a plan for how current and future workforce needs across adult social care will be met.
- The government should create a central workforce body to be responsible for the development and implementation of this and future workforce plans. making any necessary changes to legislation and implementing any funding implications.
