Page 2 - Unfair-To-Care-22-23-Flipbook

WELCOME TO UNFAIR TO CARE
INTRODUCTION FROM TERESA EXELBY, CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER AT COMMUNITY INTEGRATED CARE
1. WELCOME TO UNFAIR TO CARE 2
2. THE RESEARCH 6
3. THE 2022/23 RESULTS 10
4. PUBLIC OPINION 20
5. THE IMPACT 22
6. THE SOLUTION 40
7. TIME FOR ACTION 42
SECTION 1: WELCOME
1.
Social care is the backbone of society. At its best, it
is the skilled sector that enables people to lead full and independent lives in the heart of their communities. It promotes economic productivity by supporting families
to balance their working and caring responsibilities and offering a rewarding career that reinvests in local economies. This sector drives innovation and social impact. It is
the safety net that all of us would want and need, should we ever require support in our own lives.
Yet, tragically, this is also a sector that is beset by perpetual crises. At the time of publication, the number of unfilled posts within social care had grown by more than 52% to 165,000 vacancies1 since 2021. These figures reflect
a reality of people missing the vital support that they need, care providers firefighting to manage workforce gaps,
and people who draw on support experiencing a devastating churn of Support Workers coming in and
out of their lives. This is clearly inefficient, ineffective and wrong. So why are things this way?
One clear answer can be found in the issue of pay. As
you will read in this report, working in social care is
a provably skilled, complex, and accountable role, which requires rare vocational qualities. Yet, funding for providers has meant that Support Worker pay has largely hovered mere pennies above the minimum wage for years.
This is unreasonable, unfair and unacceptable.
It has resulted in a complicated recruitment and retention problem which, to some degree, has a simple cause – why should people do work that demands a lot of them, for less than they deserve?
For decades, the social care sector has been calling for greater investment, fair pay and a coherent workforce strategy. In July 2021, Community Integrated Care sought to bolster the case for action by shifting the debate
from one of moral subjectivity to objective fact.
Published December 2022
1. ‘The State of the Adult Social Care Sector and Workforce in England’, Skills for Care, 2022.
2