Last Updated on September 18, 2026

A new City & Guilds report finds the care sector is struggling with a shortage of everyday workforce soft skills. According to City & Guilds, a shortage in soft skills can result in errors, delays, declining service quality and excessive hiring costs.

The report, Counting the Cost: The UK’s Employability Skills Crisis, surveyed 908 employers and 1,014 18–24-year-olds, and revealed that 83% of employers have been negatively impacted by the shortage of 'employability' skills like self and time management, face-to-face communication and valuing customers.

The report investigated the financial impact to UK employers of this shortage, focusing on the construction, health and social care and digital, media and technology sectors, calculating recruitment volumes, typical hiring costs and agency fees in 2023. 

Based on this research, the report estimates that annual hiring costs for the health and social care sector exceed £5bn – with 42% of employers across the sector linking high staff turnover with a lack of employability skills.

In addition, the net costs of employability skills shortages in the sector could run even higher – as employers must meet salary bills for staff who leave having not met expectations, and use internal resources to onboard and train staff who do not remain with the business.

Commenting on the report's findings, Lorraine Olinski, Health, Care and Child Care Industry Manager at City & Guilds, said, 'New starters in the health and social care sector often lack everyday skills like verbal communication, customer skills and the ability to work independently, requiring extra supervision and leading to mistakes which need rectifying. This can lead to additional workload, declining service quality and, in some cases, risk to life.

'The resulting high turnover of staff leads to massive hiring costs throughout the sector, including agency fees, the costs of DBS checks for candidates, advertising fees along with the staff resource involved in interviewing and onboarding new staff.

'By integrating employability-based qualifications into their in-house training framework, health and social care employers can move away from the "low-skilled, high-turnover" cycle and build a more skilled, professionalised and sustainable workforce.'

James Swaffield, Chief Executive at Paragon Skills, said, 'Adult social care is at a critical juncture. Although role vacancy rates have improved, the sector continues to face significant workforce challenges, from growing demand and an ageing workforce to changing immigration policies and persistent recruitment difficulties. While short-term fixes are often prioritised, the long-term solution is harder to ignore: the sector must build a stronger pipeline of young talent today and create the conditions for that talent to thrive.'

Andy Moss, Interim Chief Executive Officer of City & Guilds, said, 'Employers are telling us loud and clear that employability skills matter just as much as technical know-how, if not more. Yet we're now seeing a growing human skills shortage. Our findings confirm that apprenticeships and vocational training are highly effective routes to developing the employability skills businesses need, together with the practical experience that's critical for success in today's workplace.'   

Read Counting the cost: The UK's Employability Skills Crisis here.  

In other news, the Care Provider Alliance welcomes its new Chair, Rhidian Hughes, Chief Executive of the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG).