Care Worker Shortages: A Roundtable Report

Why is there a shortage of care staff?

The strategic workforce development and planning body for adult social care in England, Skills for Care, says this is due to recruitment and retention difficulties in the sector rather than a decrease in demand, with employers not being able to recruit and keep all the staff they need.

In addition to this, several commentators have attributed staff shortages in health and social care to multiple factors. Some of the suggested reasons for the shortage of care staff include:

• A lack of long-term workforce planning by the government and the NHS;

• Brexit leading to a loss of care staff coming from the EU; 

• Concerns over pay; and

• Job pressures caused by increasing labour shortages.

To delve into these issues and explore potential solutions, a roundtable event chaired by The BusinessDesk brought together key players in adult social care across the Midlands to discuss these points further .

Recruitment practices and ethical considerations

To start the discussion, panellists looked at the recruitment practices within the care sector. More specifically, they looked at ensuring compliance with legal requirements, both in general and when hiring overseas workers. 

Liz Jones from the National Care Forum said: “We help our members understand. There are a lot of organisations offering recruitment services – and there is certainly evidence of agency organisations offering agency workers who have not been recruited through ethical methods.

Paragon Law’s Director and Corporate Immigration solicitor, Thal Vasishta, asked Liz Jones what she meant by “ethical recruitment”.

She replied: “We should be making decisions about what our recruitment practices are going to be. There needs to be processes in place for recruitment organisations to follow in a way that suits governance and accountability.”

Rena Christou of Halborns brought up the claw back clause, which requires sponsored employees to agree to repay the immigration fees associated with their application if their employment terminates.

Aaron Biddon of BMB Recruitment said: “If there is a claw back that implies that employers have paid up front to begin with. If you have a claw back for nurses it falls down after two years anyway.”

Chris Stacey of Rushcliffe Care said that her organisation did have a claw back clause in place with nurses.

Integration and support for sponsored workers

The discussion turned to how panellists ensured that sponsored workers are meaningfully integrated into their wider teams.

For Ben Patrick of Apex Prime Care, shadowers were essential. He said: “Where we notice a big difference in culture, then the shadower took a larger role in training. However, an induction can take the pressure off a shadower.” –

Lynn Pyatt of Country Court said that staff sometimes take on larger roles than just line managers. She added “Many overseas workers come over with family in the area, specifying where they want to live. It’s often the task of our home managers to help them with accommodation.”

Preparation was key for Jill Forbes of the Tanglewood Healthcare Group. She said: “We aim to build up relationships with overseas workers before they start with us. And, yes, we help with accommodation too. We’ve had around 80 overseas staff and not had any problems. We’ve been extremely lucky – they all seem happy. We’ve had a few people where care wasn’t their chosen career, but it’s turned out to be. They’re integrating really well.

Liz Jones bemoaned the lack of depth to the current national debate on overseas workers. She said: “In this political debate there doesn’t seem to be a recognition of the quality and skills that people come with.”

Aaron Biddon brought up an extra element of support that his company supplies. “We also work on the family reunification side of things; we aim to be the bridge that connects the family to employers. They’re pleased when they see their family member stabilised and working successfully in this country.

Ben Patrick added: “We’ve also seen our managers take on a lot more responsibilities, adding that these have included becoming de facto letting agents and driving instructors. “But they’ve welcomed it,” he said.

Rena Christou pointed out that there was a “massive” focus on getting overseas workers to the UK, and making them feel settled. But, she pointed out: “There are also other factors, such as them wanting to go on holiday, or be home for family events. The cost of this can be disproportionate to how much annual leave they have and so they can be away from their family for considerable amounts of time.”

For Chris Stacey, overseas workers are an integral part of his company. “They’re integrated into the company – and feel part of it. They’re treated in the same way as everyone else. Covid taught us that we’re all the same,” he said.