Last Updated on October 10, 2025

New research from the Homecare Association shows nearly one in three homecare providers cannot meet current demand. This is despite improvements in staff retention, whilst others cannot give their care workers enough hours of work. These findings are taken from the Association's latest report, Voices of Homecare: Workforce. The survey findings forming the report cover 450 homecare providers, over 186,000 people and 135,000 care workers. According to the Association's subsequent report, the findings expose the impact of Government decisions on immigration, commissioning and NHS funding.

On Government's closure of overseas recruitment in July 2025, the Association’s research shows:

• A majority of providers (59%) employed sponsored workers in 2025, and in almost one in ten organisations they made up three-quarters or more of the workforce.
• Nearly nine in ten providers said overseas care workers contacted them this year because their primary sponsor failed to give them enough hours. According to the Association, this is a direct consequence of poor commissioning practices by local authorities and the NHS. This leads to fragmentation of the market and not enough hours per provider, leaving workers underemployed and families without vital support, the Association continues.
• Proposals to extend settlement from five to ten years and political rhetoric on deportation of people living in the UK from overseas has further damaged morale, with 72% of providers reporting concern among overseas staff, with one in five reporting workers are now considering leaving the UK.

On Government's plans to increase duties on care workers to deliver NHS healthcare activities, the Association’s research shows:

• Seven in ten providers said their care workers deliver NHS tasks such as catheter care, wound care and diabetes management, yet only 26% receive extra funding. According to the Association, commissioners continue to expect homecare providers to absorb NHS responsibilities without training or payment.
• 65% of providers said NHS staff do not provide appropriate ongoing clinical support, and 80% said it was difficult to secure NHS sign-off for competencies.

The Association warns that poor commissioning practices remain the root cause of workforce instability. Local authorities and NHS bodies continue to purchase care by the minute, at the lowest possible price, and from too many providers, driving insecure contracts, low pay and high turnover. In the Association's view, these systemic failings make the sector unattractive to domestic workers and leave it exposed to immigration decisions.

Commenting on the publication of the new research findings, Dr Jane Townson OBE, Chief Executive at the Homecare Association, said, 'Families across Britain are waiting for care that simply isn’t available in some places. Government underfunding and penny-pinching contracts have already driven carers away. Now they’ve pulled the plug on overseas recruitment too. It’s reckless, and people will suffer. The result is predictable: people go without support, deteriorate and end up in hospital, and then hospitals struggle to discharge them. Providers face impossible choices.

'There is no other business in the economy where Government would expect vital, skilled services to be delivered for free. It is unacceptable and unsustainable. The Government says it wants to improve pay and conditions through a Fair Pay Agreement and new employment rights. It’s no good promising care workers a better deal while starving the system of cash. Without a statutory National Contract for Care to end underfunding and enforce fair commissioning, these policies are undeliverable. We cannot legislate our way to fair pay if the money and contracts don’t stack up.'

Jess McGregor, President at the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), said, 'This report highlights the ongoing challenge of securing enough care staff for our population’s growing social care needs, including supporting people to live independently at home. We were pleased to see the Government recently announce the Fair Pay Agreement to help improve the pay, terms and conditions of care workers who do a brilliant job day in and day out of supporting millions of older people and those with disabilities. While we welcome the £500m, as part of the £4bn announced during the Spend Review, and councils will be delighted to pass this on to providers to uplift front line care workers pay, this is unlikely to be sufficient, and we look forward to working with the Government to grow this amount over time.

'We need more than fair pay alone though – we need a genuine career structure, proper training and development to retain care workers and support them to do a brilliant job of delivering care and support to millions of people. This has never been needed more as the route to recruit international care workers has now been closed.

'This report also shows care workers are increasingly supporting people at home through the delivery of delegated healthcare tasks, often without adequate funding, training, or clinical governance. Our latest annual survey shows three quarters (74%) of directors said they have seen an increase in the delegated healthcare tasks being carried out by social care staff. Delegation can work well, meaning people receive more seamless and coordinated care and support, but it must be consciously commissioned by local councils in partnership with providers – it cannot be left to happen on an ad hoc basis without adequate finances, safeguards, training and support in place.'

The Homecare Association is calling for the following action:

• Ring-fence social care budgets and invest at least £1.6bn to address historic underfunding in homecare.
• Legislate for a National Contract for Care, with sustainable minimum fee rates.
• Embed homecare providers as core partners in integrated Neighbourhood Teams so that care workers are recognised as part of the community health and care workforce, not just 'add-ons' contracted at arm’s length.
• Develop a statutory workforce plan to ensure enough care workers for an ageing population.
• Expand Regional Partnerships to cover sponsored workers with insufficient hours and other employment issues, not just those displaced by licence revocations.

To download Voices of Homecare: Workforce, visit the Homecare Association website.

In other news, the National Care Forum (NCF) invites not-for-profit care providers to visualise care for the future at its Leadership Summit next week.