18 October 2019

The government is pushing forward with its social care recruitment campaign, without first addressing the main drivers of high turnover in the sector - poor pay and insecure hours.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) this week launched Phase 2 of its 'When you care, every day makes a difference' campaign, which aims to fill 122,000 social care vacancies.

Targeted at 20-39 year olds, the campaign hopes to replace an ageing workforce, with 385,000 jobs currently held by people aged 55 or over.

Although the campaign was launched in February, the DHSC did not announce any updates as to the success of its recruitment drive so far.

A survey conducted by the Department did, however, find that 10% of people aged between 18 and 34 are dissatisfied in their current job. The government is pinning its hopes on this group to move into social care on the promise of personal fulfilment, but the Institute of Employment Rights warns that without better workers' rights, the recruitment and retention crisis is likely to continue.