Page 47 - Unfair To Care 2024 - Who Cares Wins

RELIANCE ON AGENCY STAFF
Regrettably, care providers are forced to make use of more expensive agency staff to fill the gaps and provide a safe and quality service. The Nuffield Trust report that whilst the number of staff directly employed by older adult care homes has only marginally increased since the beginning of 2022, hovering just under 441,000, the total number of agency staff employed in care homes almost doubled between April 2021 and September 2022, from around 17,400 to 34,700.44
SECTION 6: THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS
ANALYSIS BY CARE ENGLAND SHOWS THAT THE AVERAGE RATE FOR AGENCY STAFF IS SIGNIFICANTLY MORE EXPENSIVE THAN FOR IN-HOUSE EQUIVALENTS – POSSIBLY UP TO AS MUCH AS 97.6%45
480,000
460,000
440,000
420,000
INCREASING USE OF AGENCY STAFF IN OLDER CARE HOMES
All staff, including agency
3.7%
Agency Staff (Approx. 17,000)
400,000
3
Directly employed staff
7.3%
Agency Staff (Approx. 35,000)
80,000
April 2021
May 2021
June 2021
July 2021 Aug 2021 Sept 2021 Oct 2021 Nov 2021 Dec 2021 Jan 2022 Feb 2022 March 2022 April 2022 May 2022 June 2022 July 2022 Aug 2022 Sept 2022
44. 45.
‘The increased use of agency staff in older adult care homes’, Nuffield Trust, December 2022 ’Agency fees for social care: key findings’, Care England, June 2022
This reflects a supply and demand issue.
These agencies do not offer a superior service in comparison to directly employed social care workers – in many cases the person requiring care may not receive the same quality of support, as deep relationships and understanding cannot be easily cultivated through a rotation of temporary workers. Care providers are paying substantially more for a frequently sub-optimal service because the reduced talent pool in social care has created the conditions for a secondary job market.
Anthony Peters, Head of Commercial Finance
at Community Integrated Care Care, says: “With sector-wide recruitment challenges, agency usage has become a necessity for providers to ensure people still get the support they need. As a large charity with over 450 services, our agency premiums last year were in excess of £2 million. On average, we find that agency staff cost £5.50 per hour more than in-house colleagues.
Whilst these figures are stark, it is important to note that Community Integrated Care’s turnover rate is 20.2% - significantly better than the social care average of 28.3%. Our proportional spend on agency is significantly less than many organisations in the care sector. It shows
the ineffectiveness of the current system – money is leaking out of the care sector due to supply issues that are directly caused by uncompetitive pay.
It is shocking to imagine the real value and impact that this money could achieve in other circumstances. We’re a charity that improves people’s lives on a daily basis, and whose colleagues deliver life-changing support.
We know how to make investments that change lives and reduce public expenditure - from Technology Enabled Care to more modern, flexible housing and social innovation. Put simply, there are hundreds
of ways that this money could be better served to support a more stable and impactful care sector.
Not only that, but our workforce deserves to be rewarded fairly for the work they do. For the past three years, we’ve had to use our charitable reserves to ensure
we can give our frontline colleagues a pay increase
- which has then correlated with better recruitment and retention figures - so the case for investment is clear. But right now, demand for care and support is simply outstripping the supply of frontline workers.”
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