Last autumn, Skills for Care announced ambitious plans to develop a new and comprehensive workforce strategy for adult social care.
Social care is a fundamental part of our lives, our communities and our economy, and the workforce is a fundamental part of social care.
We know that we have a huge number of people working in social care – more than 1.5 million, accounting for 5 per cent of all jobs in England.
Without changes to the way services are delivered, however, we know we’re going to need a lot more people working in care to meet future needs.
From our latest data, we estimate we will need up to an extra 440,000 posts in social care by 2035.
We also know that, while we need more people tomorrow, we don’t have enough today (with 152,000 vacancies) and we lose too many people – 390,000 leave their posts each year.
Behind the data is a collection of individual stories, experiences, and lives.
When we can’t get the people we need to support us to live our lives, or they don’t stay in their roles, we have to keep building relationships with new people and we have to tell our stories again and again.
There are also the baton changes between health and social care when the systems aren’t aligned.
The Social Care Future movement, hosted and supported by the charity In Control, says that social care is not just under-invested in; it’s under-imagined. So, let’s imagine something different in terms of our ambition for the workforce.
“Social care is under-invested in and under-imagined. So let’s imagine something different”
We owe it to the people being supported today and we owe it to all of us who will be supported in years to come.
This is why I and Oonagh Smyth, Chief Executive Officer of Skills for Care, have come together as joint chairs of its workforce strategy steering group to lead this conversation.
To deliver a multi-lever strategy that will achieve maximum impact, the development and delivery must be a collective responsibility, with strong collaboration and partnership throughout.
We’ve been exploring the opportunities that exist with leaders and people who can make change happen within their space to come together and pull in the same direction.
It’s fair to say that this is being embraced with an incredible amount of positivity, excitement and passion from everyone involved.
We are developing the strategy in two phases: an evidence-led and practical first five years, plus an ambitious, vision-led five-to-15-year phase – and we’re drawing on a range of data and expertise to help us form that.
A number of expert working groups have been set up to focus on topics such as technology, artificial intelligence, science and pharmaceuticals, integration, prevention, new service models, recruitment and retention, skills and leadership.
We are working closely with colleagues in NHS England who developed, and are now implementing, the NHS Long Term Plan. There is a strong will to ensure alignment.
As well as some recommendations for government, the strategy will form the basis of a blueprint for integrated care systems, commissioners/local authorities, and employers.
Historically, voices in the sector can be fragmented: a positive by-product of the development of this strategy, which we are already seeing, will be a stronger collective view and strengthened responsibility to make change happen.
We’re making great progress and will be launching the strategy in July.
- Skills for Care is the strategic workforce development and planning body for adult social care in England.