The Department told us numbers in the social care workforce were going in the right direction and that domiciliary care and care home workforces were expanding.70 However, written evidence sent to us by the National Care Forum highlights that, as of October 2022, there were 165,000 vacancies in the sector according to Skills for Care’s most recent 2021–22 annual report.71 This is an increase of 50% compared to the 110,000 vacancies in 2020–21, and represents a 3% contraction of the social car...

The Department told us numbers in the social care workforce were going in the right direction and that domiciliary care and care home workforces were expanding.70 However, written evidence sent to us by the National Care Forum highlights that, as of October 2022, there were 165,000 vacancies in the sector according to Skills for Care’s most recent 2021–22 annual report.71 This is an increase of 50% compared to the 110,000 vacancies in 2020–21, and represents a 3% contraction of the social care workforce over the previous year in the face of increasing demand.72 Type: conclusion | Number: 19 | Response status: not_addressed Government response: 3.9 The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation. 3.10 According to Skills for Care, the vacancy rate in independent care providers was 10.7% in 2021-22, increasing from 7.0% the previous year. The rate had been around 7% since 2017-18. Vacancy rates in the care sector are determined