Official Statistics

Adult social care workforce skills survey: September 2025 report

Published 30 September 2025

Applies to England

Summary

The adult social care workforce skills survey was a voluntary survey conducted by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and completed by Care Quality Commission (CQC)-registered adult social care residential care and domiciliary care employers through Capacity Tracker. The survey ran for just over a month, from 10 February to 14 March 2025. The survey aimed to investigate:

• employers’ perceptions of skills needs within their organisation and the sector more widely, at the time the survey was conducted
• whether these needs were being met
• the impact of skills gaps on care users, staff and business performance

These questions are currently important evidence gaps. The survey’s aim was to begin to address these gaps and provide evidence to inform local and national planning and policy-making.

The survey received responses from 3,058 adult social care providers, with a higher proportion of responses (60%) coming from domiciliary care providers than residential care (38%) or dual-registered providers (2%). The responses were evenly distributed across regions. The main findings of the survey relate to the following themes:

• whether it was difficult to recruit individuals with the necessary skills to meet the needs of care users in the last 12 months
• the proportion of the current workforce that have the necessary skills to do their job
• skills gaps in the current workforce
• impact of skills gaps
• important factors when promoting care workers to management roles
• barriers to investment in skills development
• the future of skills needs

Main findings include:

• 46% of respondents said that they had found it difficult to recruit individuals with the necessary skills to meet the needs of service users in the last 12 months
• 27% said skills gaps in the workforce had impacted their business performance and growth in the last 12 months
• 48% said there are barriers in the sector that stop investment in skills development
• almost all respondents (97%) said all their staff (74%) or most of their staff (23%) had the necessary skills to do their job, suggesting a high level of confidence in day-to-day competencies

The main limitation of these results is that they are not weighted to be representative of the entire adult social care sector and hence should be viewed as a limited indication of provider sentiment. Furthermore, as a location-level survey of adult social care providers, the findings may differ from those that would have been elicited from a worker-level survey.

Introduction

These findings are being published as an ad hoc analysis as part of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) Monthly statistics for adult social care (England). This is a collection that provides a monthly overview of statistics and other information on adult social care settings, including care home staffing ratios. Data for both this publication and the regular monthly statistics are taken from Capacity Tracker.

Background

This survey was designed to address an important evidence gap around the prevalence of skills and skills needs in adult social care in England. The aim was to capture employer views and generate evidence to inform local and national planning and policy-making in an area where there is currently little to no data. The government is committed to understanding skills needs in adult social care and across the economy, and taking action to meet these needs, as evidenced by the launch of Skills England and the new Growth and Skills Levy.

Methodology

The adult social care workforce skills survey was a voluntary survey completed by CQC-registered residential and/or domiciliary care providers through Capacity Tracker. For more details on the Capacity Tracker data collection and the methodology for the monthly statistics, see Adult social care in England statistics: background quality and methodology.

The draft survey questions were reviewed by sector representatives including the Capacity Tracker Operational Change Advisory Board, which includes members from:

• CQC
• DHSC
• Homecare Association
• Local Government Association
• National Care Forum
• NHS England

Among other feedback, this highlighted that there is not a single, well understood definition of ‘skills gaps’ as a concept. This means that there may have been some inconsistency in how respondents interpreted and answered certain questions. To mitigate this risk, we used similar question wording to the Employer Skills Survey (ESS), the questions for which were cognitively tested. We also chose to use the term to remain consistent with the ESS and the terminology used by Skills England.

The survey was live on Capacity Tracker for just over a month to allow providers time to complete it. Providers were notified through their usual Capacity Tracker homepage and communications when the survey was live and received multiple reminders within the month to complete by the deadline.

CQC-registered providers may consist of one or more locations, but this report refers to each individual location as a ‘provider’. Each location within a wider organisation was able to respond to the survey individually. A total of 3,058 adult social care providers responded to the survey out of the 27,904 who have access to Capacity Tracker. This gives a response rate of 11%.

Response rates varied by type of provider. For example, 8% (1,154) of all residential care providers (care homes) registered on Capacity Tracker responded to the survey, compared with 13.6% (1,836) of domiciliary care providers (home care), reflecting higher engagement among domiciliary care providers. The totals do not sum to 3,058 because some care providers are dual-registered, meaning they offer both residential (care home) and domiciliary (home care) services from the same provider location. Of the survey respondents, 2.2% fell into this category.

When calculating percentages for the analysis, respondents who did not answer or selected ‘not applicable’ (‘N/A’) or ‘don’t know’ are excluded, as this suggests the question was not relevant to them. Percentages therefore reflect the proportion of people who selected a particular answer, out of those who gave an affirmative response to that question (a response other than don’t know or not applicable).

Where respondents could select multiple answers, percentages are based on the total number of people who answered that question, rather than the total number of options selected. This excludes those who did not answer or selected not applicable or don’t know. Where respondents could choose more than one option, the percentages may sum to more than 100%, as they reflect the proportion of respondents who selected each option.

Data tables summarising results from this survey can be found in the ODS file accompanying this publication, with data split by provider type (residential care versus domiciliary care) and/or region for questions where there were statistically significant differences in responses between groups.

This report mostly presents the questions in the order in which they appeared in the survey. However, where it made more sense to group together by theme, we have done this (for example, questions around the impacts of skills gaps have been grouped together). Annex A presents all the questions in the order they were asked.

Experiences recruiting individuals with the right skills

Question 1

Respondents were asked:

If you have recruited in the last 12 months, did you find it difficult to recruit individuals with the skills needed to meet the current needs of individuals drawing on care and support?

2,907 respondents answered this question, excluding not applicable and don’t know. Of those:

• 45.8% selected ‘yes’
• 54.2% selected ‘no’

There were statistically significant differences (to a 95% confidence interval) between some regions and provider types:

• 40.3% of respondents in the East of England selected ‘yes’
• 32% of residential care providers in the East of England selected ‘yes’
• 52% of domiciliary care providers in the South East selected ‘yes’

Question 2

Respondents who said they had experienced difficulties were then asked:

For each of the following roles, please indicate how difficult you found it to recruit individuals with the right skills.

Results were as follows.

Direct care worker roles

1,315 respondents who said they had experienced difficulties recruiting in the last 12 months answered this question (excluding don’t know and not applicable).

The question defined direct care worker roles as including care and home care workers, senior care workers, and personal assistants.

Of those who answered, 84.7% said they had found it somewhat (53.3%) or very (31.4%) challenging to recruit individuals with the right skills for direct care roles.

Management roles

726 respondents who said they had experienced difficulties recruiting in the last 12 months answered this question (excluding don’t know and not applicable).

The question defined management roles as including team leaders or supervisors, deputy and registered managers.

Of those who answered, 71.7% said they had found it somewhat (32.4%) or very (39.3%) challenging to recruit individuals with the right skills for management roles.

Registered nurse and nursing associate roles

240 respondents who said they had experienced difficulties recruiting in the last 12 months answered this question (excluding don’t know and not applicable).

Of those who answered, 69.2% said they had found it somewhat (23.8%) or very (45.4%) challenging to recruit individuals with the right skills for registered nurse and nursing associate roles.

Social worker roles

61 respondents who said they had experienced difficulties recruiting in the last 12 months answered this question (excluding don’t know and not applicable).

Of those who answered, 36.1% said they had found it somewhat (11.5%) or very (24.6%) challenging to recruit individuals with the right skills for social worker roles.

Occupational therapist roles

56 respondents who said they had experienced difficulties recruiting in the last 12 months answered this question (excluding don’t know and not applicable).

Of those who answered, 42.8% said they had found it somewhat (19.6%) or very (23.2%) challenging to recruit individuals with the right skills for social worker roles.

Questions 3 to 7

Respondents who said they had experienced difficulty recruiting overall (in question 1) were then asked:

[For each role,] which skills did you find it difficult to recruit?

Respondents could select any skills that they had found it difficult to recruit individuals with from a multiple-choice list of 11, and also had the option of an ‘other’ text box.

‘Interpersonal and communications skills’ was among the 5 most selected options for every role. It was the most selected option for direct care roles, with 63.2% saying they had found it difficult to recruit for this skill in these roles (followed by ‘English skills’, which 47.1% selected).

For management roles, the most selected options were:

• leadership and innovation (63.3%)
• interpersonal and communication skills (49.3%)
• data, technology and digital skills (45.3%)

A full breakdown of responses to these questions can be found in the accompanying data tables.

State of the current workforce

Question 8

Respondents were asked:

What proportion of your current workforce have the necessary skills to do their job?

3,054 respondents answered this question. Of those:

• 73.9% said ‘all our staff’
• 22.9% said ‘most of our staff’
• 1.9% said ‘about half of our staff’
• 0.6% said ‘less than half’
• 0.8% said ‘none of our staff’

There were statistically significant differences (to a 95% confidence interval) between provider types.

A larger proportion of domiciliary care providers (79.2%) than residential care providers (65.4%) said all their staff had the necessary skills to do their job. However, a larger proportion of residential providers said most of their staff had the necessary skills, resulting in similar combined totals for ‘most of our staff’ and ‘all of our staff’ (97.2% of domiciliary care providers, and 95.8% of residential care providers).

Question 8.1

Regardless of their previous responses, respondents were asked:

Which job roles do you see skills gaps in?

No guidance was given on interpretation of ‘skills gaps’ - respondents may have interpreted this as necessary skills that some staff were missing, or areas where non-essential skills could be improved. There were 1,116 responses to this question (excluding not applicable and don’t know). Of those who responded:

• 80.6% said they saw skills gaps in direct care worker roles
• 37.6% said they saw skills gaps in management roles
• 15% said they saw skills gaps in registered nurse and nursing associate roles
• 6.5% said they saw skills gaps in social worker roles
• 5.4% said they saw skills gaps in occupational therapist roles

Questions 8.2 to 8.6

Respondents were asked:

[For each role,] which of the following skills need improving?

Respondents could select as many skills as they liked from a multiple-choice list of 11, and also had the option of an ‘other’ text box.

Similar to the question about the most difficult skills to recruit, ‘interpersonal and communication skills’ was among the 5 most commonly selected options for every role. 55.3% of the 1,183 respondents who answered about direct care roles selected this option.

‘Data, technology and digital skills’ was one of the most commonly selected options for direct care (40.2% selected this option), management (46.8%) and nursing and nursing associate roles (40.3%).

‘Person-centred care and inclusion’ was in the top 5 for every role except management. 38.5% of those who answered about direct care roles selected this option.

‘Leadership and innovation’ was the most selected option for management roles (56.2% of those who answered this question).

‘Clinical and specialist care skills’ was the most selected option for registered nurse and nursing associate roles (53.6% of those who answered this question).

A full breakdown of responses to these questions can be found in the accompanying data tables.

Impacts of skills gaps

Question 9

Respondents were asked:

For each of the following skill gaps, please indicate the level of impact you think they have on the quality of care delivered in your organisation.

Of those who answered about each skill:

• 42.6% said gaps in ‘person-centred care and inclusion’ skills had a high (26.2%) or critical (16.4%) impact on quality of care
• 41.2% said gaps in ‘care and support tasks’ had a high (25.3%) or critical (15.9%) impact
• 40.4% said gaps in ‘health, safety and wellbeing’ had a high (23.8%) or critical (16.6%) impact

Question 10

Respondents were asked:

What impacts, if any, have skills gaps had on care delivery?

Respondents could select impacts from a multiple-choice list of 8, including a ‘no impact’ option, and also had the option of an ‘other’ text box.

2,522 respondents answered this question. Of those:

• 34.1% selected ‘no impact’
• 28.2% selected ‘reduced quality of care’
• 25.8% selected ‘increased financial burden on provider’
• 23.3% selected ‘high staff turnover or retention challenges’
• 22.7% selected ‘increased reliance on temporary/agency staff’
• 22.4% selected ‘delays in care provision/service delivery’
• 22.4% selected ‘difficulty in implementing new technologies or innovations’
• 13.9% selected ‘reduced ability to meet regulatory standards’

Figure 1: impacts of skills gaps on care delivery

Response	% of respondents
No impact	34.1
Reduced quality of care	28.2
Increased financial burden on provider	25.8
High staff turnover or retention challenges	23.3
Increased reliance on temporary/agency staff	22.7
Delays in care provision/service delivery	22.4
Difficulty in implementing new technologies or innovations	22.4
Reduced ability to meet regulatory standards	13.9

Question 11

Respondents were asked:

What impacts, if any, have skills gaps had on individuals in the current workforce?

Respondents could select impacts from a multiple-choice list of 9, including a ‘no impact’ option, and also had the option of an ‘other’ text box.

2,523 respondents answered this question. Of those:

• 47% selected ‘increased workload and pressure’
• 33% selected ‘increased stress and risk of burnout’
• 31.8% selected ‘no impact’
• 28.2% selected ‘increased need for supervision and support’
• 27.3% selected ‘reduced job satisfaction’
• 20.5% selected ‘reduced confidence in performing job role’
• 20% selected ‘difficulty adapting to new processes or technologies’
• 19.9% selected ‘limited opportunities for career progression’
• 15.5% selected ‘high staff turnover’

Figure 2: impacts of skills gaps on individuals in the current workforce

Response	% of respondents
Increased workload and pressure	47
Increased stress and risk of burnout	33
No impact	31.8
Increased need for supervision and support	28.2
Reduced job satisfaction	27.3
Reduced confidence in performing job role	20.5
Difficulty adapting to new processes or technologies	20
Limited opportunities for career progression	19.9
High staff turnover	15.5

Question 16

Respondents were asked:

Have skills gaps in the workforce impacted on your business performance and growth in the last 12 months?

2,657 respondents answered this question. Of those:

• 27.4% said ‘yes’
• 72.6% said ‘no’

There were statistically significant differences (to a 95% confidence interval) between provider types for this question.

A higher proportion (30.9%) of those responding on behalf of a domiciliary care provider said skills gaps had impacted their business performance and growth in the last 12 months, compared to 21.6% of residential care providers.

Question 17

Those who said ‘yes’ to question 16 were then asked:

What impact have skills gaps in your workforce had on your organisation in the last 12 months?

Respondents could select impacts from a multiple-choice list of 11, and also had the option of an ‘other’ text box.

703 respondents answered this question. Of those:

• 62.2% selected ‘increased operational costs’ as an impact of skills gaps on their organisation in the last 12 months
• 50.1% selected ‘increased workload for other employees’
• 38.8% selected ‘poor staff retention’
• 32.9% selected ‘challenges with team dynamic and leadership’
• 28.9% selected ‘loss of business to competitors’
• 28.4% selected ‘reduced quality of care’
• 28.3% selected ‘difficulty in introducing new working practices, processes or terminology’
• 23.6% selected ‘inability to adopt new technologies and practices’
• 18.1% selected ‘negative impact on individuals who draw on care and support’
• 16.5% selected ‘outsourcing work which might have been done in-house’
• 15.5% selected ‘regulatory non-compliance’

Figure 3: impacts of skills gaps on organisations in the last 12 months

Response	% of respondents
Increased operational costs	62.2
Increased workload for other employees	50.1
Poor staff retention	38.8
Challenges with team dynamic and leadership	32.9
Loss of business to competitors	28.9
Reduced quality of care	28.4
Difficulty in introducing new working practices, processes or terminology	28.3
Inability to adopt new technologies and practices	23.6
Negative impact on individuals who draw on care and support	18.1
Outsourcing work which might have been done in-house	16.5
Regulatory non-compliance	15.5

A full breakdown of responses to this question can be found in the accompanying data tables.

Important factors when promoting staff

Question 12

Respondents were asked:

How important are [experience, skills, and qualifications] when it comes to promoting care workers/senior care workers into a deputy/registered manager (or equivalent role) in your organisation?

Respondents were asked separately about experience, skills and qualifications, rating each on a scale from ‘not at all important’ to ‘very important’. Overall, respondents indicated that skills and experience were more important than qualifications when promoting care workers and senior care workers to management roles.

Experience

95.2% of those who answered this question (2,901 respondents) said experience was either very (78.2%) or somewhat important (17%) to promotion decisions.

Skills

97.5% said skills were very (81.3%) or somewhat important (16.2%), out of 2,910 respondents.

Qualifications

82.5% said qualifications were very (39.6%) or somewhat important (43.1%), out of 2,911 respondents.

Respondents were also able to write in other factors that were important. Responses included compassion, kindness, empathy, emotional intelligence, integrity, communications skills, leadership, willingness to learn, values, knowledge and adaptability.

Question 13

Respondents were asked:

Which skills do you see as most important when promoting care workers/senior care workers into deputy/registered manager roles?

Respondents could select as many options as they liked from a list of 11 skills and also had the option of an ‘other’ text box.

2,892 respondents answered this question. Of those:

• 87.6% said ‘interpersonal and communication skills’
• 83.7% said ‘person-centred care and inclusion’
• 76.8% said ‘leadership and innovation’
• 75.8% said ‘health, safety and wellbeing’
• 74.7% said ‘professional and ethical responsibilities’
• 70.7% said ‘care and support tasks’
• 70.4% said ‘English skills (including the ability to read, write, listen and speak)’
• 67.4% said ‘data, technology, and digital skills’
• 56.6% said ‘number skills (including the ability to do calculations and record numbers)’
• 44.5% said ‘clinical and specialist care skills’
• 39.1% said ‘additional specialist training’

Figure 4: most important skills when promoting care workers or senior care workers into deputy or registered manager roles

Response	% of respondents
Interpersonal and communication skills	87.6
Person-centred care and inclusion	83.7
Leadership and innovation	76.8
Health, safety and wellbeing	75.8
Professional and ethical responsibilities	74.7
Care and support tasks	70.7
English skills (including the ability to read, write, listen and speak)	70.4
Data, technology, and digital skills	67.4
Number skills (including the ability to do calculations and record numbers)	56.6
Clinical and specialist care skills	44.5
Additional specialist training	39.1

Respondents were also able to write in other skills that they see as important. These were similar to the previous ‘written-in’ responses, including compassion, empathy, enthusiasm, integrity, approachability and teamwork.

Barriers to investment in skills

Question 14

Respondents were asked:

Are there any barriers in the sector that stop investment in skill development for the current workforce?

3,054 respondents answered this question. Of those:

• 48.1% said ‘yes’
• 51.9% said ‘no’

There were statistically significant differences (to a 95% confidence interval) between provider types.

A larger proportion of domiciliary care providers (51.7%) said there were barriers, compared to residential care providers (42.7%)

Question 15

Those who said ‘yes’ to question 14 were then asked:

What do you find to be barriers that stop investment in skill development for the current workforce?

Respondents could select barriers from a multiple-choice list of 9, and also had the option of an ‘other’ text box.

1,443 respondents answered this question. Of those:

• 81.8% said ‘cost of training’ was a barrier
• 55.9% selected ‘time for training’
• 36.7% selected ‘access to training’
• 34% selected ‘limited availability of specialised training’
• 28.1% selected ‘backfill’
• 25.8% selected ‘low engagement or interest among staff’
• 19.1% selected ‘high turnover disrupting continuity in skill development’
• 15.1% selected ‘lack of awareness about training opportunities’
• 12.3% selected ‘inadequate leadership or mentoring for skills growth’

Figure 5: barriers that stop investment in skill development for the current workforce

Response	% of respondents
Cost of training	81.8
Time for training	55.9
Access to training	36.7
Limited availability of specialised training	34
Backfill	28.1
Low engagement of interest among staff	25.8
High turnover disrupting continuity in skill development	19.1
Lack of awareness about training opportunities	15.1
Inadequate leadership or mentoring for skills growth	12.3

A full breakdown of responses to this question can be found in the accompanying data tables.

Respondents were also able to write in other barriers to investment in skills development for the current workforce. Responses included restrictions on training access for staff from overseas who were on health and care worker visas, and a lack of funding to the sector in general.

The future of skills

Question 18

Respondents were asked:

Do you expect your organisation’s skills need to have changed in 5 years’ time?

2,513 respondents answered this question. Of those:

• 73% said ‘yes’
• 27% said ‘no’

Question 19

Respondents who said ‘yes’ to question 18 were then asked:

What new/different skills do you think your organisation will need in 5 years’ time?

Respondents could select skills from a multiple-choice list of 6, and also had the option of an ‘other’ text box.

1,742 respondents answered this question. Of those:

• 81.9% selected ‘digital and technological proficiency’ as a new/different skill that their organisation would need in 5 years’ time
• 62.6% selected ‘complex care management’
• 46.5% selected ‘sustainability and green care practices’
• 46.2% selected ‘crisis management and resilience’
• 45.3% selected ‘collaboration and interdisciplinary skills’
• 42.9% selected ‘personalised and holistic care i.e. trauma-informed care’

Respondents were also able to write in other new and/or different skills they thought their organisation would need in 5 years’ time. Responses included understanding of new frameworks, policy and legislation (for example, the introduction of a national care service), collaboration between health and social care, and predictions that care workers will be expected to do more tasks currently done by district nurses.

Question 20

Finally, respondents were given an open text box to answer the following question:

What can the government prioritise, to address current and future skills needs in the sector?

These responses were analysed using thematic analysis. The key themes were:

• increasing funding for workforce training, and for the adult social care sector overall
• general support for investment in upskilling and training
• increasing pay for the workforce to better reflect their skills and professionalism
• generally valuing and recognising the workforce
• supporting further professionalisation of the care workforce
• improving recruitment and retention of staff
• creating better career progression pathways
• technology and digitalisation
• better education and awareness of the adult social care sector for the public, beginning in schools
• system wide reforms
• creating (more) opportunities for clinical and specialist training

Limitations and caveats

A total of 3,058 providers responded to the survey.

Domiciliary care providers were slightly over-represented, making up 60% of respondents to this survey but only 48% of providers on Capacity Tracker overall. Responses by provider type were generally evenly distributed by region, although residential care providers in the East of England had a lower than average response rate, and residential care providers in the North East had a higher than average response rate.

Although this is a large sample size, it does not reflect the views of all adult social care providers.

Table 1: response rate, by region and provider type

Region	Residential care providers	Domiciliary care providers
East Midlands	8.0%	13.5%
East of England	4.5%	13.8%
London	7.9%	11.9%
North East	13.6%	14.4%
North West	8.5%	14.1%
South East	6.8%	13.0%
South West	8.2%	15.9%
West Midlands	8.6%	14.1%
Yorkshire and The Humber	9.9%	14.2%
Total	8.0%	13.6%

Responses have not been weighted to represent the entire sector and therefore should be taken as a limited temperature check of provider sentiment.

Annex A: questionnaire

1. Recruitment - If you have recruited in the last 12 months, did you find it difficult to recruit individuals with the skills needed to meet the current needs of individuals drawing on care and support?

• Yes
• No
• N/A - have not recruited in the last 12 months

2. For each of the following roles, please indicate how difficult you found it to recruit individuals with the right skills:

i. Direct care worker (including care and home care workers, senior care workers, and personal assistants)

ii. Management roles (including team leader or supervisor, deputy and registered managers)

iii. Registered nurses and nursing associates

iv. Social workers

v. Occupational therapists

vi. Other (please specify)

• Not at all challenging
• Somewhat challenging
• Neutral
• Somewhat challenging
• Very challenging
• Don’t know/not applicable

3. For direct care worker roles, what skills did you find it difficult to recruit? Select all that apply.

• Additional specialist training
• Care and support tasks
• Clinical and specialist care skills
• Data, technology, and digital skills
• English skills (including the ability to read, write, listen, and speak)
• Health, safety, and wellbeing
• Interpersonal and communication skills
• Leadership and innovation
• Number skills (including the ability to do calculations and record numbers)
• Person-centred care and inclusion
• Professional and ethical responsibilities
• Other (please specify)
• N/A – did not find it difficult to recruit for this role

4. For management roles, what skills did you find it difficult to recruit? Select all that apply.

• [Options as Q3]

5. For registered nurse and nursing associate roles, what skills did you find it difficult to recruit? Select all that apply.

• [Options as Q3]

6. For social worker roles, what skills did you find it difficult to recruit? Select all that apply.

• [Options as Q3]

7. For occupational therapist roles, what skills did you find it difficult to recruit? Select all that apply.

• [Options as Q3]

8. Workforce Skills - What proportion of your current workforce have the necessary skills to do their job?

• All our staff
• Most of our staff
• About half of our staff
• Less than half
• None of our staff

8.1. Which job roles do you see skills gaps in? Select all that apply

• Direct care worker (including care and home care workers, senior care workers [found in role categories A-D of the Care Workforce Pathway], and personal assistants)
• Management roles (including team leader or supervisor, deputy, and registered managers)
• Registered nurses and nursing associates
• Social workers
• Occupational therapists
• Other (please specify)
• Don’t know/not applicable

8.2. For direct care worker roles, which of the following skills need improving? Select all that apply.

• Additional specialist training
• Care and support tasks
• Clinical and specialist care skills
• Data, technology, and digital skills
• English skills (including the ability to read, write, listen, and speak)
• Health, safety, and wellbeing
• Interpersonal and communication skills
• Leadership and innovation
• Number skills (including the ability to do calculations and record numbers)
• Person-centred care and inclusion
• Professional and ethical responsibilities
• Other
• N/A for this job role

8.3. For management roles, which of the following skills need improving? Select all that apply.

• [Options as Q8.1]

8.4. For registered nurse and nursing associate roles, which of the following skills need improving? Select all that apply.

• [Options as Q8.1]

8.5. For social worker roles, which of the following skills need improving? Select all that apply.

• [Options as Q8.1]

8.6. For occupational therapist roles, which of the following skills need improving? Select all that apply.

• [Options as Q8.1]

9. For each of the following skill gaps, please indicate the level of impact you think they have on the quality of care delivered in your organisation.

i. Interpersonal and communication skills

ii. Person-centred care and inclusion

iii. Care and support tasks

iv. Health, safety, and wellbeing

v. Clinical and specialist care skills

vi. Professional and ethical responsibilities

vii. Data, technology, and digital skills

viii. English skills (including the ability to read, write, listen, and speak)

ix. Number skills (including the ability to do calculations and record numbers)

x. Leadership and innovation

xi. Additional specialist training

• No impact (1)
• Low impact (2)
• Moderate impact (3)
• High impact (4)
• Critical impact (5)
• Don’t know/not applicable

10. What impacts, if any, have skills gaps had on care delivery? Select all that apply

• Delays in care provision/service delivery
• Difficulty in implementing new technologies or innovations
• High staff turnover or retention challenges
• Increased financial burden on provider
• Increased reliance on temporary/agency staff
• Reduced ability to meet regulatory standards
• Reduced quality of care
• Other (please specify)
• No impact
• Don’t know/not applicable

11. What impacts, if any, have skills gaps had on individuals in the current workforce? Select all that apply.

• Difficulty adapting to new processes or technologies
• High staff turnover
• Increased need for supervision and support
• Increased stress and risk of burnout
• Increased workload and pressure
• Limited opportunities for career progression
• Reduced confidence in performing job role
• Reduced job satisfaction
• Other (please specify)
• No impact
• Don’t know/not applicable

12. How important are experience, skills, and qualifications when it comes to promoting care worker/senior care workers into a deputy/registered manager (or equivalent role) in your organisation?

i. Experience

ii. Skills

iii. Qualifications

iv. Other (please specify)

• Not at all important (1)
• Not very important (2)
• Neither important nor unimportant (3)
• Somewhat important (4)
• Very important (5)
• Don’t know/not applicable

13. Which skills do you see as most important when promoting care workers/senior care workers into deputy/registered manager roles? Select all that apply.

• Additional specialist training
• Care and support tasks
• Clinical and specialist care skills
• Data, technology, and digital skills
• English skills (including the ability to read, write, listen, and speak)
• Health, safety, and wellbeing
• Interpersonal and communication skills
• Leadership and innovation
• Number skills (including the ability to do calculations and record numbers)
• Person-centred care and inclusion
• Professional and ethical responsibilities
• Other (please specify)
• Not applicable

14. Are there any barriers in the sector that stop investment in skill development for the current workforce?

• Yes
• No

15. What do you find to be barriers that stop investment in skill development for the current workforce? Select all that apply.

• Access to training
• Backfill
• Cost of training
• High turnover disrupting continuity in skill development
• Inadequate leadership or mentoring for skills growth
• Lack of awareness about training opportunities
• Limited availability of specialised training
• Low engagement of interest among staff
• Time for training
• Other (please specify)

16. Have skills gaps in the workforce impacted on your business performance and growth in the last 12 months?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know
• N/A

17. What impact has skills gaps in your workforce had on your organisation in the last 12 months? Select all that apply.

• Increased operational costs
• Increased workload for other employees
• Poor staff retention
• Challenges with team dynamic and leadership
• Difficulty in introducing new working practices, processes, or terminology
• Reduced quality of care
• Loss of business to competitors
• Inability to adopt new technologies and practices
• Outsourcing work which might have been done in-house
• Negative impact on individuals who draw on care and support
• Regulatory non-compliance
• Digital and technological proficiency
• Other (please specify)

18. Do you expect your organisation’s workforce skills need to have changed in 5 years’ time?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know
• N/A

19. What new/different skills do you think your organisation will need in 5 years’ time? Select all that apply

• Collaboration and interdisciplinary skills
• Complex care management
• Crisis management and resilience
• Digital and technological proficiency
• Personalised and holistic care i.e., trauma-informed care
• Sustainability and green care practices
• Other (please specify)

20. What can the government prioritise, to address current and future skills needs in the sector?

• Open text response