News story

New campaign to recruit thousands more adult social care staff

The government’s ‘Every Day Is Different’ campaign will help fill the 110,000 vacancies in the adult social care sector.

Carer talking to gentleman in care home

A new national recruitment campaign to help fill the 110,000 vacancies in the adult social care sector has launched.

The ‘Every Day Is Different’ campaign will show how rewarding social care careers can be – 96% of care professionals feel their work makes a difference to people’s lives. It will also highlight the opportunities for progression and professional development.

The campaign aims to:

  • attract new people with the right values to the sector and increase interest in adult social care as a vocation
  • highlight the range of job roles, with an initial focus on direct care roles such as care workers, where there is the most demand
  • equip the social care sector with the marketing tools to support the campaign and advice to recruit and retain the right people, to address a high turnover rate.

Over 1.45 million people work in the sector at the moment. It is predicted an additional 650,000 workers will be needed by 2035 to keep up with the rising numbers of people aged 65 and over.

Working in adult social care is about providing personal and practical support to help people live their lives.

People who work in the sector could be supporting the elderly or people with a physical disability, autism, dementia or a mental health condition. This could mean working in:

  • a care or nursing home as a care worker
  • your local community as an activities co-ordinator
  • a hospital as an occupational therapist
  • someone’s home as a personal assistant

The campaign has been developed in close collaboration with the adult social care sector and will run during February and March through social media, digital and local radio advertising, outdoor posters and events across England.

Advertising will feature real care workers and the people they support. The aim is to attract a diverse range of people, but the campaign will have a focus on people aged 20 to 39. Research suggests that this group is the most likely to consider a role in adult social care in the next 12 months.

Adult social care providers will be encouraged to engage with the campaign by providing case studies, advertising their vacancies on DWP Find a Job and promoting social media content using the hashtag #shareifyoucare. Materials will also be available to providers to equip them with information and assets to support the campaign locally.

Minister of State for Care Caroline Dinenage said:

Adult social care is too often seen as the ‘Cinderella service’ to our NHS. I’m determined to change this perception, starting with our hardworking social care workforce.

There is huge demand for more care professionals who work incredibly hard to look after the most vulnerable people in our society. We must spread the word that careers in adult social care can be rewarding, varied and worthwhile. Care is a vocation where you can transform people’s lives and every day is different to the next.

Our national recruitment campaign will support care providers to recruit thousands more talented people. If you think a career in care could be for you, I urge you to look up the opportunities in your local area and become part of a vital and growing profession.

Sharon Allen, CEO of Skills for Care said:

I have spent my whole career in adult social care, so I know first-hand the tremendous professional and personal satisfaction that is on offer to anyone who joins us through this campaign.

This campaign will help employers find people who have the right personal values that will make them great care workers and that means people in our communities will be supported by highly motivated and skilled workers.

Published 12 February 2019