Health & Social Care Skills Roundtable Event

Health and social care skills was the subject of the day at a roundtable event, hosted by West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce.

Substantial measures are in place across West Yorkshire to help get people working again including the Health and Growth Accelerator. The key drivers for this are an aging population, the rising prevalence of chronic illness, to reduce NHS waiting lists and to improve population health.

It is predicted that Health and Social Care will need 470,000 additional staff by 2040, not including the replacement of staff in what tends to be an older workforce.

Angela Thompson, Senior Transformation Lead from Skills for Care gave an insightful presentation on the provision of Health and Care skills around the region. Some useful statistics included:

• The number of adults aged 65+ will increase by 22% by 2040.
• Life expectancy within communities differs by 8% for men and 8.9% for women.
• Healthy life expectancy is even wider, by 17.2 years for men and 24.8 years for women.
• The older population is predicted to grow faster than the working population given a falling birth rate.
• There is a growth in the number of people with disabilities and complex conditions.
• There is currently 23% disability in working age adults.
• Good quality work is one of the key building blocks and determinants of health

Attendees included Shipley College, Craven College, Bradford Care Association, EY Foundation, Deloitte, Leeds Trinity University and local care provider, Love in Care.

Skills England has identified Health and Social Care as a priority sector, recognizing the sector’s critical role in the UK’s workforce. The Heath and Social Care workforce supports increased employment and regional economic growth, with the majority of workers living, working and spending locally.

The sector is expected to see significant demand for workers with Level 2 and 3 qualifications. The Skills England Sector Needs Assessment Report highlights the need for clear progression routes, specialist options, and leadership opportunities to retain and motivate the workforce. Skills England’s Assessment of Priority Skills to 2030 emphasizes the urgent need for training and skills development across the sector to meet the growing demands of an ageing population and the need for integrated services.

Until recently job growth in the sector has been driven by overseas recruitment, with the number of British nationals working in the sector continuing to fall. However recent changes in government policy have limited overseas recruitment into the sector.

There are 1.6 million filled posts in the sector and a 7% vacancy rate for 111,000 unfilled vacancies.

In the UK there are 19,000 organisations in the care sector, mainly SMEs.

Staff turnover in the sector is high, at 23.1% and there is a median pay rate of £12 per hour, 80% of other jobs pay more. There are also very limited numbers of apprentices in the sector.

The government is looking to address this, and questions to address include, how to recruit more young people into the sector and how can the new flexible skills funding help.

Delivery of services in the sector is changing, with the NHS 10-year strategy calling for services to move from:

1. Hospital to community
2. Sickness to prevention
3. Analogue to digital

The workforce strategy includes moves to attract and retain, train and transform, and there is a suite of reports that support this.

At the current time in West Yorkshire there are 3,700 unfilled posts in the sector a 5.5% vacancy rate, 25.1% staff turnover and most workers are over 24 years of age, with a quarter over 55 years of age, i.e. nearing retirement. More needs to be done to attract younger workers into the sector. Measures are being taken to address this through the Care Workforce Pathway and a pay agreement.

More digital skills training is being used in the sector, especially post-Covid, and there is a need for tech enabled care and improving technology skills in the sector.

The GVA for the sector in Yorkshire and Humber is £7.6 billion, with West Yorkshire making up around 50% of that.

Therefore, it is essential that we continue to support recruitment and skills within the sector to address the high vacancy rate, the increasing need for care and to increase the domestic supply of talent into the sector.