Workforce challenge

A job in the care market needs to be appealing and held in high regard by society. The key to a properly functioning, high quality and sustainable adult social care market is a workforce that is:

Well trained
Professional
Caring
Appropriately paid with progression opportunities
Satisfied with both their jobs and employers

Job turnover

Many carers who leave caring roles move to different care jobs, indicating greater satisfaction with the caring role than their employer. 64% of staff were recruited from within the adult social care sector during 2021-2022 within Norfolk.

Where these positive factors do not fully exist, this is manifested in high turnover of staff. Information from the 2021-2022 skills for care workforce minimum data set highlights social care staff turnover rates of:

41.2% for direct care staff
50.2% for registered nurses

Vacancy rates for all job roles increased from 6.3% in 2020-2021 to 8.5% in 2021-2022.

Age of staff

The composition of care workers can provide sustainability issues in the care market, especially if a high percentage of workers are reaching retirement age and the profession is not appealing enough to new workers.

The age profile of the adult social care workforce highlights that the average age of workers in this sector is 45 years.

The average age varies by type of role. For example, the average age for:

Registered nurses is 50 years old
Direct care staff is 43 years
Managers is 48 years old

The number of workers aged 55 years and above has increased:

26% of direct care staff are 55 years old and over
42% of registered nurses are 55 years old and over

These workers are therefore likely to leave the workforce within the next 5 to 10 years as they become of non-working age (65 years old and over).

International staff

The workforce in Norfolk has been reliant on workers from the European Union (EU), although this has reduced since Brexit.

In 2020-2021, 11% of direct care staff and 28% of registered nurses were recorded as having EU nationality. By 2021-2022 this had reduced to 9% for direct care workers but the percentage of EU nurses had remained the same at 28%.

The need for international recruitment to plug the current recruitment and retention gaps is seeing an increase in international workers.

Qualified staff

Most concerning is the percentage of the direct care workforce in Norfolk who hold a relevant social care qualification. Information submitted by providers to skills for care shows that in 2021-2022:

31% of direct care staff had completed the care certificate
22% were in progress or has partially completed the care certificate
47% had not started the care certificate

This is better than the England average where only 40% of the workforce had achieved or were working towards the care certificate.

It is essential that we work together to showcase social care as a career and to encourage all staff within the sector to take advantage of the training, development and apprenticeship opportunities available to them to advance their career in care.

Well-led framework

The well-led framework continues to be the key domain that providers are failing against with 38% of all services inspected being rated 'requires improvement' or 'inadequate'.

This highlights the need to develop strong registered managers within the Norfolk social care sector.

We have invested in training programmes that help support registered managers to develop their skills which include:

District workforce challenges

Residential and nursing home services

The vacancy levels for social care workers within residential and nursing homes varies across the county. The highest levels are North Norfolk (8.5%) and Norwich (6.8%). There are also difficulties with the recruitment of managers in East and North Norfolk and for registered nurse roles in Norwich (14.3%).

Staff turnover and vacancy rates

Staff turnover rates also vary by locality with some areas facing significant challenges. There are above average sector turnover rates presented in geographic areas:

Acle, Aylsham and Wroxham with a turnover rate of 36.4%
Dereham, Thetford and Watton with a turnover rate of 52.4%
Downham Market and Swaffham with a turnover rate of 42.1%

Turnover rates significantly impact on quality with a loss of continuity of care, experience and expertise. High turnover rates result in increased recruitment, on-boarding and induction costs for providers.

Visit the skills for care website for further information about recruitment and retention.

Home support services

Workforce shortages within the care at home sector (domiciliary care) are the most significant factor affecting the sustainability of services within this sector.

The latest estimate of home care vacancies in Norfolk is at least 12% (2022) which is an increase from the 2021 position of 8.6%.

Vacancies across all roles are acute in certain geographic locations within domiciliary care. Locations reporting the highest vacancy rates are:

Gorleston and Great Yarmouth: 7.7%
Attleborough, Diss, Loddon and Wymondham: 8.2%
Dereham, Thetford and Watton: 14.9%
Downham Market and Swaffham: 15.6%

Norwich also reported high levels of vacancies in managerial roles at 18.2%.

Our ambition to address the workforce challenges

In our 2021-2022 market position statement we said that to achieve our aim of securing passionate, well trained, supported staff with opportunities for a great career in social care, we would:

Fund a two-year advertising campaign to support recruitment into the sector through TV, radio, social media, and poster advertising. All campaigns signpost people to the Norfolk care careers website.
Advertise the opportunities for careers in social care and signpost people to the Norfolk care careers website which also provides a free platform for providers to advertise jobs
Continue to develop the Norfolk care academy, offering candidates an opportunity to join the social care sector, with free training and a guaranteed job interview
Offer access to courses such as 'my home life' and other accredited leadership qualifications support the development of strong management across the sector
Provide access to free training for staff in social care supported by training mentors
Grow and further develop the nurse associate programme

What we achieved

Between 3 October 2021 and 31 January 2023, we have:

Achieved a 20% increase in visitors to Norfolk care careers website based on the same period in the previous year
Published 1,323 adverts on behalf of adult social care providers
Enabled 56,174 applications through the website
Had 42 spaces taken up on recruitment best practice workshops, with 85% of respondents surveyed indicating that they would change their approach as a result
Developed 8 new care career case studies, increasing awareness of the different settings, roles and value of social care
Produced new materials including booklets summarising career pathways
20 individuals completed the care academy pilot
Norfolk care careers represented at over 40 events to promote careers in social care
Had had 582 members of the health and social care workforce in Norfolk engaged in a training or mentoring intervention with developing skills in health and social care (DSHSC) between April 2022 and March 2023
A team of 7 mentors based in Norfolk are employed by DSHSC, which is co-funded by the European social fund, Suffolk County Council and us
Mentors have supported recruitment activities across Norfolk by being present at face-to-face events to promote the training and skills development opportunities available to the workforce