LGA responds to NAO report on adult social care workforce

8 Feb 2018 09:23 AM

Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, responded to a National Audit Office report on the adult social care workforce in England

“This worrying report reflects the historic underfunding of social care which is putting severe pressure on the care workforce, the provider market and the availability of care.

“Councils only employ a minority of these staff using their own pay rates. However, the increasing staff turnover rate and a vacancy rate more than double the national average amongst the wider provider group, shows the sector as a whole is struggling to recruit and retain staff who feel undervalued.

“The workforce is the lifeblood of social care and government needs to act on feedback from providers to implement a national strategy to ensure there are sufficient well-trained carers to make the care profession more attractive, with reward issues discussed on an industry-wide basis so that some sensible common approaches can be developed. This will help to address rising demand for care from a growing older population whose care needs are becoming more complex.

“Councils can’t plan for the future due to uncertainty over funding and an annual £2.3 billion shortfall that adult social care will face by 2020.

“Councils are doing all they can to protect services that care for older and disabled people, but without genuinely new funding to fully close this gap and long-term sector reform, there is a greater risk of more providers either pulling out of contracts or going out of business.”

Report:  The adult social care workforce in England