As PS Recruitment Specialists Ltd are a company specialising in the social care sector we like to keep updated on all social care news within the UK.
After studying a recent article regarding cuts and a growing demand within social care, here are the points taken from the report:
The report shows there is no plan to recruit or retain staff to help in the increasingly demanding care sector, and that the social care sector is undervalued so struggles to retain staff who are currently working.
Social care in England is described as a “Cinderella service” which is undervalued, and the Department of Health and Social Care is not doing enough to support the development within the recruitment of social care.
There is currently an increasing demand for care but the number of staff being recruited does not meet this need.
For agencies and care companies recruiting and retaining staff is increasingly difficult and with the growing demand this is making it more and more difficult for companies to meet the needs of services around the UK.
It is estimated that 12 million people over the age of 65 had some level of unmet care needs between 2016-2017.
It is said that this is due to workers feeling undervalued and there is little opportunity for career progression. As well as most care workers being paid only £7.50 – the national minimum wage for a highly skilled, demanding job, providing essential support to adults and children with care needs, yet the care sector is still so undervalued, and the workers are poorly rewarded. This is due to the Government not putting enough money into social care which means that agencies and care companies struggle to pay staff wages that reflect the job they do as they don’t receive that funding from the government.
The National Audit Office have suggested that a national workforce strategy is produced, and investment made to allow care services to pay staff an ideal wage that reflects the caring job role they do and to offer more career progression and different specialist training opportunities which benefit both care companies, the staff and the service users.
Without any changes to this “Cinderella service” adult social care cannot adequately perform its crucial role of supporting vulnerable children and adults in the UK.
There is constant pressure and demands on health and social care services and the care staff and this needs to be recognised and responded to quickly by making the changes that have been overlooked for so long. The care sector needs to have more money and attention spent on it.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman has recently spoken and has claimed “We’ve provided an extra £2bn funding to the sector and announced a further £150m for next year – in the summer we will outline plans to reform social care”.
Hopefully, the changes that need to be made will soon be recognised and come into action over the course of 2018-19.
PS Recruitment Specialists Ltd are continuing to help to provide more support to vulnerable children and adults in the UK, in particular the Manchester area.
We are constantly recruiting new staff on a temporary and permanent basic within social care. If you feel as though you would be interested in either a position as a temporary flexible support worker, then call us today on 0161 475 1702 to speak with one of our recruitment consultants to book you in for a registration interview.
If you would like a permanent position in social care, then visit https://ps-recruitment.co.uk/jobs/ to view our latest job vacancies ranging from adult support workers to a relief enabler to a service managers position. If you would like more information regarding permanent positions we have available, then call us today on 0161 475 1702 or email team@ps-recruitment.co.uk and one of our specialist recruitment consultants will be happy to answer any queries you have.
If you are an owner/manager of a company within the care sector and would like to enquire about using us as an agency to provide staffing solutions on a temporary or permanent basis then please call the office on 0161 475 1702 to discuss how we can help you to recruit permanent staff or provide flexible agency staff on a day to day basis to meet the needs of your care services.
We hope that PS Recruitment Specialists Ltd can continue to help to meet the needs of care services by recruiting more and more trained and experienced staff each week.