One in 10 social care jobs in Wigan was unfilled last year

Skills for Care charity, which estimates there are 165,000 vacant posts across England, said the social care sector is facing complex challenges with a surge in demand impacting recruitment and retention.

The charity’s annual report found England’s social care vacancy rate hit a record high of nearly 11 per cent in the year to September.

Figures provided by the charity, which are rounded to the nearest hundred, show there were around 7,400 jobs available in Wigan’s adult social care sector in 2021-22 – with roughly 6,900 of these posts filled.

It means the area’s vacancy rate stood just below the national average at nine per cent. There was a significant level of vacancy for social worker (18 per cent) and support and outreach (13 per cent) roles.

North West had the second lowest vacancy rate across England’s regions, at nine per cent.

Caroline Abrahams, Age UK director and co-chair of the Care and Support Alliance, said: “Recruitment and retention in social care have been difficult for some years but both now appear to be getting markedly worse. The main problem is pay: cash starved care simply can’t compete with the big supermarkets and online retailers on wages so committed staff are lured elsewhere."

Ms Abrahams added “there’s no avoiding" the need for improved pay and conditions within social care.

Meanwhile, Skills for Care’s report found about 400,000 people left jobs in 2021-22, with an average turnover rate of 29 per cent.

Wigan had a turnover rate of 33 per cent across all adult social care services, with rates especially high among care workers (39 per cent) and direct care staff (36 per cent).

The charity said a key solution to high turnover and job vacancy was better pay for care workers. It estimated that care workers with five years’ experience were paid just 7p per hour more than those with less than a year.

It added the average care worker was paid less than £1 per hour less than new healthcare assistants in the NHS.

Jo Willmott, director of homes and communities at Wigan Council, said: “The social care sector is facing real recruitment and retention challenges both regionally and nationally, in what is a highly competitive employer market, and these issues have only been compounded by pressures arising from the rising cost of living.

“Nevertheless, we’ve been working with local partners on creative and innovative initiatives such as our ‘Care to Join Us’ campaign, to attract new people into social care with the right values and skills. Working in social care is a hugely rewarding job and there are lots of development opportunities for people considering a long-term career.

“We have developed entry-level opportunities for young people and for those wanting to change career path, providing them with the training and mentoring they need to enjoy a successful and rewarding career in care.

“We have also taken a targeted local approach to recruitment, attracting candidates who live locally at a time when fuel and travel costs are rising. We have hosted local recruitment drives and been working with our local DWP Jobcentre to support speedier recruitment through face-to-face events and a dedicated website - already attracting more than 700 applicants for roles in homecare, supported living and care homes across the borough.

“Meanwhile, our Time To Talk wellbeing and support service aims to support existing care staff to continue making such an invaluable impact to local people’s lives.

“While we are not immune to the difficulties currently being experienced across the whole country, we’re pleased that these strategies are already making a positive impact.

“Anybody interested in exploring a career in care can find more information on our website at Wigan.gov.uk/CareToJoinUs”

Oonagh Smyth, CEO of Skills for Care, said: “We must talk more about how rewarding social care is to work in so that we attract more people, and we must make it easier for the people who love working in social care to stay by improving terms and conditions and investing in their career development.”

She added 480,000 extra staff in social care will be needed by 2035 as 28 per cent of the current workforce are aged 55 and over and may retire in the next decade.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We’re investing in adult social care and have made £500m available to support discharge from hospital into the community and bolster the workforce this winter, on top of record funding to support our 10-year plan set out in the People at the Heart of Care white paper."

They said "tens of thousands" of extra staff have joined since care workers were added to the Health and Care Worker visa and the Shortage Occupation list – a list of jobs in short supply which can be more easily filled by non-UK workers. They added a new domestic recruitment campaign will be launched.