Adult Social Care Workforce Crisis in the UK: Understanding causes and exploring remedies

The adult health and social care sector in the UK are critical to its healthcare infrastructure. As of 2023, the industry employs approximately 1.52 million individuals—a number significantly more than the NHS itself. Yet, despite the massive employment, the sector grapples with a severe workforce crisis. It’s caught in a vicious circle of difficulties around recruitment and retention. 

What are the causes of adult social care workforce crisis in the UK?

Amidst the tumultuous economic environment in the UK, several specific factors contribute to the health worker crisis, the major ones being:

• Scarcity of skilled health workers: According to recent estimates, the worker vacancy rate for the sector is relatively high at 9.9%. These unfilled positions are primarily due to a shortage of skilled healthcare workers.
  
  
• Reliance on expensive agency staff: In vulnerable times, when there’s acute shortage of workers during emergencies, care providers are bound to resort to agency staff to fill vacant positions. The hourly rates of such staff range from £20 to £40. This is much higher, compared to around £10 paid to permanent employees for similar roles as per National Minimum Wages and National Living Wage rates. This wage difference ends up compelling permanent workers to switch over, leave their permanent jobs and take on better paying agency positions instead. As a result, the disparity ends up straining care providers’ budgets.

• Concerns about quality care: Agency workers often lack the necessary training and compliance checks. This pushes the staff to perform beyond their capabilities, simultaneously threatening the quality of care administered to patients and their safety.

• High worker turnover: There’s a 28% worker turnover rate in the sector. This exodus arises from the demanding nature of the work, inadequate pay, and the perception that roles in other sectors offer better job security and benefits.

Examining causes: What’s leading to the vicious cycle of talent difficulties in adult social care?

The current state of talent crisis in healthcare comes from the following factors:

• Existence of pay disparities: The presence of widespread pay disparities harbor inequality among workers and make it difficult for care providers to attract and retain talent. This  is further compounded by the fact that most care workers earn less than retail assistants. 

• Unsatisfactory working conditions: A significant portion of the workforce is employed on zero-hour contracts. While this provides flexibility for some, such agreements often lead to job instability and insecurity. This becomes unattractive to potential employees who are seeking more predictable work hours and income. Additionally, their job satisfaction is heavily influenced by the lack of adequate career development opportunities. This leaves workers feeling undervalued and unsupported, making them less inclined towards those roles.
  

• Recruitment difficulties: Unregulated private sector hiring practices lead to a lack of consistency and quality in the workforce. In a struggle to fill entry-level positions, care providers are compelled to reduce the qualifications they seek in applicants to prioritize speed over quality. This compromises the quality of care and makes it challenging to attract skilled talent.

What’s the way out?

How can you overcome the health worker challenges in the UK: Strategies for success

At a strategic level, the following measures can help set the stage to overcome the talent crisis:

• Standardizing pay equality: Establishing standardized pay rates that adequately reflect the responsibilities and skills required for various roles can ensure all employees, including permanent staff, are compensated. This may involve aligning pay more closely with industry standards and offering long-term service or performance-based incentives.

• Building a sustainable workforce pipeline: Establishing partnerships with reliable contingent staffing agencies that prioritize quality and compliance can help secure secure steady stream of qualified professionals to meet the ongoing worker demands. It can also ensure the staff adheres to regulatory standards and best practices. 

• Widening the talent pool: Considering employing people from overlooked groups, such as ex-offenders and young people, can also widen talent choices. According to a survey, over 90% of organizations employing ex-offenders found them reliable, skilled, punctual, and trustworthy workers. Similarly, engaging young people between 16 and 17 can also cultivate a new generation of care workers that may be trained and developed within the sector. 

While these factors can support worker acquisition efforts, focusing on worker retention is equally important to overcome the crisis in a true sense. This boils down to enhancing their job satisfaction. 

How to improve health worker job satisfaction: Essential tips  to follow

• Strengthen onboarding processes: If you provide mentors or "buddies" to newcomers, they will feel welcome into the team. Additionally, this practical can help reduce feelings of isolation and increase the likelihood of long-term retention.
  
  
• Review and improve pay and benefits: Engaging in discussions about desired benefits available and considering standardizing pay rates across permanent and temporary staff can help.
  
  
• Encourage work-life balance: Implementing flexible scheduling practices and ensuring rosters are planned in advance can empower workers to better manage their personal commitments effectively. 

Success comes down to effective implementation at every step

To put these strategies and tips into action, the primary requirement is the support of a robust backend infrastructure. This can help in sourcing candidates smoothly, ensuring their efficient performance and satisfaction levels.

Leveraging robust vendor management systems can support sourcing and managing a contingent shift-based workforce suited for the healthcare sector. Relying on these VMS systems can help you break the cycle of recruitment struggles, high expenses, and staffing shortages. As a result, you can focus on cost reductions, adhere to agency rate caps, and streamline administration. 

Simultaneously, what’s also key is you have visibility into the workforce. This is needed to build the right experiences to retain them. With hundreds and thousands of workers, this is only achievable by leveraging data. Tracking analytical insights can help you identify optimization opportunities and build a varied workforce. With data, you can make informed hiring decisions. For instance, it can help objectively identify high-performing teams and use their services more. It can also help navigate the right internal mobility opportunities and bring on added benefits of improving worker experience by providing opportunities for career development. It’s all about implementing the setup to facilitate worker sourcing, performance optimization, and retention. 

Want more details about leveraging integrated workforce management systems to widen your talent pool, improve job satisfaction, and unlock accurate workforce intelligence? 

Download and read our ebook on Adult Social Care: Managing a Dynamic Workforce in the UK for detailed insights.

Disclaimer: The content in this blog post is for informational purposes only and cannot be construed as specific legal advice or as a substitute for legal advice. The blog post reflects the opinion of Magnit and is not to be construed as legal solutions and positions. Contact an attorney for specific advice and guidance for specific issues or questions.