Care analysis: retaining people in the care workforce

The recruitment and retention challenge

Caption: Chart 109, Recruitment and retention 2022/2023. Source: The State of the Adult Social Care Workforce in England 2023

Chart 109 shows that care workers under 20 years old had the highest turnover rate (53.7%). The turnover rate decreased as the age of the worker increased and this trend plateaus as workers approached retirement.

This aspect of the data is particularly telling and sets the scene for our conversation. Because the care sector has found it very difficult to retain younger workers, this places exceptional strain on older workers resulting in workforce burn-out, declining motivation and lack of new ideas and innovation.

Although the high turnover rate of 45% for 20-29 years olds presents big challenges for employers, the loss of a quarter of employees over 50 is particularly concerning, with valuable insight and experience draining the profession annually.

Caption: Chart 109, Care worker turnover rate by age bands. Source: The State of the Adult Social Care Workforce in England 2023

Here’s a snapshot of Oonagh and John’s conversation.

1. What keeps people in the care workforce?

“When you break it down there are three areas – the quality of the role the investment you make in learning and development; the more you train and give people development opportunities the more they are likely to stay; and finally organisational culture and leadership.

Pay does have a role but it’s about living your values - in terms of retention if you want to keep people then make them feel valued … with a strong focus on organisational culture

After all, it’s called Social Care ... the clue is in the name … it’s all about relationships!”

2. Why do you do this report?

“We do this report every year using the data from 600,000 sources, about half of the workforce in England. We’ve been doing it for over 10 years which means that we are capable of having a really meaningful broad and deep analysis. In fact, the Office of National Statistics have said that it is the most comprehensive audit of adult social workforce.

We really believe we need the right number and type of people in the workforce and this report can really influence policy both in the short and longer term.

We know that we’re going to need more people in the sector - not only more people but also new demographics. We estimate that we’re going to need 440,000 new people in the workforce in the next fifteen years.”

3. Are perceptions of care changing?

“There really is an opportunity to begin to change perceptions about the social care industry and to shift the huge misunderstandings there are about the sector.

For instance, it contributes £56 billion to the UK economy and employs around 5% of the English workforce which is more than the NHS. It also attracts 420,000 new people into the workforce every year … it really is a powerful sector with loads of opportunities.”

4. What keeps people in the care workforce?

“When you break it down there are three areas – the quality of the role the investment you make in learning and development - the more you train and give people development opportunities the more they are likely to stay – and finally organisational culture and leadership.

Pay does have a role but it’s about living your values - in terms of retention if you want to keep people then make them feel valued … with a strong focus on organisational culture

After all, it’s called Social Care ... the clue is in the name … its’ all about relationships!”