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Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, responded to Skills for Care’s annual State of the Adult Social Care Workforce report, which showed there are still around 112,000 job vacancies in social care 

“Social care makes an incredibly valuable contribution in supporting people to live the lives they want to lead, as well to wider society and the economy, which this report shows. This has been highlighted even further by the immense efforts of the care workforce during the pandemic.

“Despite the extraordinary endeavours of all those who work in this skilled profession, we still face a huge recruitment and retention crisis in social care, with more than 100,000 vacancies available on any given day and extremely high turnover rates. 

“Urgent action is needed for the care workforce including on pay, professionalisation, skills and training. We look forward to working with Skills for Care to help address this.

“The upcoming Spending Review must provide councils with the extra funding they need to help shore up social care ahead of winter and get through the second wave of COVID-19, while also using this as the basis for future reform of social care to place it on a long-term, sustainable footing.”

Notes to editors

Councils in England face a funding gap of more than £5 billion by 2024 to maintain services at current levels - this figure could double amid the huge economic and societal uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The LGA’s detailed submission to the Comprehensive Spending Review sets out how £10 billion is needed to not only plug this gap but meet growing demand pressures and improve services for communities

Download a copy of the report and the infographic showing all the key findings.