Just days before winning the award, Community Integrated Care continued its journey in calling for change for social care, launching the third edition of the research in Parliament alongside policymakers, sector leaders and people who work in and draw on the sector.
Who Cares Wins: Unfair to Care 2024 presents a juxtaposing message of both crisis and opportunity. Whilst the challenges of recruitment and retention in social care remain, there is a growing consensus across society, the care sector and from policymakers in the case for change. Teresa Exelby, Chief Corporate Services and People Officer at Community Integrated Care, tells CMM more.
The heart of the problem
Recruitment and retention in social care is one of the greatest challenges facing society today. For too long, we’ve faced an irreversible trend of people who have a unique gift for changing lives, leaving the careers that they love.
With 152,000 vacant roles in social care – hundreds of thousands of people are facing inconsistent or unavailable support due to a lack of capacity. 390,000 people left their jobs in 2023, with turnover rates remaining stubbornly high at 28.3%.
At the heart of this is the issue of low and unfair pay. Whilst social care roles are skilled, complex, and accountable, requiring rare vocational qualities, funding for providers has meant that support workers’ pay has been consistently below a living wage for years.
This 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? Unfair to Care seeks to shine a light on this current crisis, outlining how we can correct these injustices, stabilise our workforce and reset our health and social care system to unlock greater economic growth and productivity for years to come.
The research
In 2021, we sought to explore and strengthen the case for action by shifting the debate from one of moral subjectivity to objective fact. Partnering with Korn Ferry, the world-leading experts in job evaluation, our first edition of Unfair to Care provided the first-ever independent assessment of the frontline support worker role and rates of pay. It proved that, far from being low skilled, the role is clearly technically, emotionally and physically demanding.
This analysis also revealed that the role had parity with the NHS Band 3 position, providing evidence that greater stability could be achieved through introducing objective pay bandings within social care and the development of a national workforce strategy.
As we finalised the third instalment of our research in early 2024, the gap between social care workers and their NHS counterparts remained stark. The average care worker takes home £7,617 less, on average, than they would do in the same role within the NHS – a 35.6% pay gap.
The gap is even more stark when compared to everyday commercial roles, which do not mirror the size, complexity and accountability of care work. If we cannot keep pace with our peers, or readily available roles in other sectors, what hope do we have for stability?
Public and political support
Social care is an incredibly vocationally rewarding career. I am privileged to work with thousands of people who live their dream of enabling others to live theirs too. But against the joy is despair – people working tirelessly yet still need the support of food banks, friends or family. People on a tightrope of debt or being one ordinary life shock away from personal disaster.
Through public polling with YouGov, we found that 70% of adults in England believe that social care workers should earn the same as their NHS equivalents and that 87% believe that the shortage of care workers is an important issue for society.
The endemic nature of these problems means that the public is aware, engaged, and motivated for change. More than half of the population – 53% – say that they will have a more favourable view of political parties that address the issues of low pay. From our research, we can see that society recognises the need for change.
2024 is, of course, an electoral year. Our findings not only present the case for fair pay, but also the reality that it can be a determining issue in how the public approaches the ballot box. There is a potential 2.6 million-strong ‘social care vote’, which could have an impact on key marginal constituencies.
Excitingly, we see scope for political change too. As well as polling the general public, we also carried out the first of its kind polling with YouGov, which revealed that the majority of MPs – 77% of the surveyed audience – recognise that the current rate of pay for social care workers is unfair, with 80% believing that the next government should act to improve pay and terms and conditions for social care workers.
The message is clear: who cares wins, and all political parties must act. Improving social care pay is an investment that will deliver the ‘Social Care Triple Win’: better lives for people who deliver and draw on social care, cost-effective and sustainable care and health services and economic growth and productivity.
Support Community Integrated Care in calling for action. To find out more, visit its website.
Why change is needed – Abbie’s story
Alongside the research and data, Unfair to Care is supported by rich insights from people who co-ordinate, deliver and draw upon the social care sector.
Support worker, Abbie Bowler, was just 24 when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Her landlord went bankrupt, and she found herself facing homelessness. With no savings to fall back on, she applied for a grant through Community Integrated Care’s Wellbeing Fund – an additional benefit for colleagues to support them through financial difficulty.
‘When the pandemic hit, I was working in hospitality and almost immediately, I was made redundant. I was worried, but I saw it as an opportunity to find something that I was passionate about. That’s when I came across the support worker role. I applied and got the job – I settled in quickly and felt like I had finally found my calling.
‘So, when only six months in, my landlord went bankrupt and told me he was selling my flat, I couldn’t believe it. I had used up any savings I had when I was out of work, so I had no deposit for a new flat and no one I could stay with. I felt like my life had been turned upside down and my mental health really took a serious knock.
‘My manager suggested I could apply for a grant from the charity’s Wellbeing Fund. At the time, this felt like my only hope. I couldn’t believe it when my application had been approved, and not only was I getting the deposit for a new home, I was also getting some money to buy basic furnishings too.
‘It’s now three years later and I love my new home and job so much. I’ve built strong relationships with the people I support, in particular, George, who has learning difficulties and complex needs. We have a strong bond and I get so much happiness from seeing him live the best life he can. Sometimes I look back and can’t believe how much things have changed for me in just a few years – the Wellbeing Fund honestly saved my life.’
The 10th annual Markel 3rd Sector Care Awards ceremony took place Friday 15th March 2024. For the full list of finalists and winners, visit the dedicated website.
Teresa Exelby is Chief Corporate Services and People Officer at Community Integrated Care.
Email: [email protected]
X: @ComIntCare