The future of social care post-Brexit
Stephen Wilson, CEO of Netli.co, discusses the impact which the points-based immigration system could have on social care in the UK. With almost 1/10 of staff working in health and social care coming from the EU, care providers are still unsure what impact Brexit will have on recruiting EU nationals. It is undoubtedly a time of uncertainty: So, who are we to believe in these mixed messages? With needs increasing and capacity decreasing, any loss of staff from the EU would be disastrous. Unfortunately, the government’s proposed “points-based immigration system’ for those from the EU, looking to work in the UK, will not be a support. The largest proportion of the current 122,000 vacancies would fail to meet the points-based criteria, due to the potential salary that care workers receive falling below the level set by the government. Currently, the role of a care worker is not classed as skilled or does not appear on the shortage occupation list. The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) were asked to consider impacts on, and potential mitigations for, “sectors that provide high public value to society and the economy, but which might not necessarily pay as high wages”. MAC reported that: “The most obvious examples of these might be public sector jobs like health and social care workers and teachers.” However, to date there has been no response from the UK Government if a mitigation strategy for health and social care workers will be introduced. With so much uncertainty you may be surprised to learn that care companies access Brexit grant support has been pulled. This leaves the most vulnerable in society at risk of losing their care packages as care providers struggle to navigate the impact of the Brexit transition. More so than ever, recruitment must go on, that is why Netli have been in discussions with Scottish Government to support a national recruitment campaign. This includes CareJob.co, the first job board from advert to recruitment specifically for the health and social care sector. Additionally, Netli are hoping to support in these challenging times by providing free services for HSCPs, NHS, Local Authorities, Professional and Representative Bodies and Trade Unions. Whilst we can’t predict the exact impact of Brexit we can prepare. With support and guidance any health and social care provider can weather this perfect storm.
‘Until society sees social care differently, we won’t solve the real crisis in the sector’
There’s no doubt that the social care sector needs a major overhaul. But until society stops seeing care work as a second-rate profession, we will never solve the biggest issue – the workforce crisis, says Victoria Sylvester, Director of Acacia Training. Earlier this year, MPs called for a radical overhaul of the social care system in Britain. Recommendations included the mandatory registration of all care workers, overseen by a governing council, and the creation of a National Care Service. The proposals, published in a new report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Social Care were long-awaited after months of headlines about the ‘chaos of the care system’. Reports of half a million unqualified and untrained people working in the care sector shocked the nation, with many fearing for the safety of their elderly relatives and neighbours. There’s no doubt that stories like these are extremely concerning – and that the sector needs reform – but they also contribute to the negative image of a sector which is already struggling due to chronic underfunding and a major workforce crisis. In this country, social care is seen as a second-rate sector. When you think about it, this is incomprehensible considering that care work is a highly-skilled job which our society relies heavily on. With an ageing population, demand is continuing to increase and it is estimated that the sector will need at least another half a million jobs, and people to fulfil them by 2030. Yet there are currently around 75,000 vacant posts in the social care sector according to the GMB union. Skills for Care estimates that the vacancy rate for care workers is 9.1% – more than three times the average for all jobs. We are already seeing the impact of Brexit, with fewer EU workers entering our care sector. Attracting people to the sector has never been more critical and what we need now is incentives, not barriers. The cost of regulation For the entire time that I’ve been in the sector there has been talk about registering care workers. From a quality and safeguarding point of view, it’s an excellent idea. Putting it into practice, however, is going to be a challenge. Consider the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). They set the education standards that professionals must achieve to practise in the UK. If nursing professionals don’t uphold the standards and behaviours set out in their code they can be removed from the register. This gives people the confidence that they will receive quality, safe care. But the NMC is primarily funded by an annual registration fee, which all nursing professionals have to pay. Forcing care workers to pay an annual fee on the current salary levels could become a deterrent to people joining the sector. Wages are notoriously low and don’t match the level of responsibility that social care roles demand. Why should they pay to be on a register when they can earn the same wage in a supermarket? Training can ensure high standards and help to engage and motivate employees, but cost can be a barrier here too, both for employers and workers. Fully-funded training can act as a much-needed incentive to attract – and keep – people in the sector. My family founded Acacia Training after struggling to recruit and retain quality staff at the two care homes we own in Staffordshire and Cheshire. Where we can, we proactively seek out funding opportunities in order to deliver training to carers across the UK. This benefits both employers and employees in order to continually improve standards in the sector. Previously all care workers had to achieve a level 2 qualification within two years of joining the sector but now it’s more of a grey area in terms of expectation. We need to set clear, mandatory minimum standards for all care workers. Retention is just as important as recruitment Ongoing training is also important in retaining employees – another area where the care sector is struggling. There is a real lack of progression opportunities for staff. The opportunities are there but they are not visible or accessible to the majority of people. The care sector is hard. Many people who decide to join it aren’t prepared for how physically and mentally draining it can be. Others get disillusioned by the low salaries and lack of progression. Yet every day hundreds of thousands of care workers get up, go to work and do an absolutely incredible job, caring for society’s most needy and vulnerable people and contributing enormously to their health, happiness and wellbeing. So yes, the care sector does need a radical overhaul and the APPG report is an important step in the right direction. But it also needs an image overhaul too. Let’s stop undervaluing the workforce in this sector and instead look at what we can do to motivate and inspire people to love their job and be the best they can be. Let’s celebrate the hardworking and dedicated people who working tirelessly in this sector to make a positive difference. Victoria Sylvester is a registered nurse, owner of two care homes and Director of Acacia Training, which provides apprenticeships, short courses and government-funded qualifications in the health, social care and early years sectors. For more information, visit: www.acaciatraining.co.uk.
What’s stopping millennials from taking up social care roles?
Social Care Alba, a leading care and support provider in Edinburgh, has announced a steep decline (62%) in the number of millennial candidates – aged between 18-25 – applying for roles in domiciliary care. Statistics verified by Novacare, have shown that for the same quarter (April – June) in 2018, 40% of all applications made were by millennials, however in 2019 this has dropped to just 15%. Founder of Social Care Alba comments, “We believe that the reduction of younger candidates applying for a job in domiciliary care is a great part down to lack of awareness. This type of care is particularly invisible to the younger generation as I suppose it’s not something that we think about so much as a young person. “As a leading care and support provider, focusing on innovation, technology and new approaches to care that will allow us and our employees do a better job, is vital. Through a strong drive to innovate we are also really hoping to engage with younger demographics and help bring this group into the sector.” Communication is key in social care recruitment Social Care Alba endeavour to make themselves clearly visible to the younger generations by communicating with them as much as possible, and making them aware of how rewarding and beneficial a career in care can be. They will be exhibiting at the Part-Time Work Fair, organised by Napier University, taking place on 1 November 2019. Nataly Wilson continues: “Care at homework also lends itself very well to those with younger families as hours can be very flexible and job roles can be part-time, allowing candidates to have a good work-life balance whilst earning money and doing something that is very rewarding.” Social Care Alba was established to provide support to people living in their own home. The care and support is based upon core values underpinned by the Health & Social Care Standards. Their vision is one of person-centred support, which incorporates values of dignity and respect, privacy and inclusion, choice and realising potential – as well as safety, equality and diversity. They are continuously looking to the future, planning ahead and anticipating future demands, thus allowing them to recruit, train and plan services in advance with the support and inclusion of staff. For more information visit social-care.org
Brexit – a perfect storm for social care
Stephen Wilson, CEO and Co-Founder of recruitment platform Novacare, discusses how Brexit will add to an already critical situation within the social care sector – and why women should be better recognised for their role within the care industry. The Office for National Statistics reports female unemployment fell this year to 3.7% the lowest since records began in 1971. Unsurprising when women account for the vast majority of the 1.75 million people who work in Social Care across the UK. As a sector social care contributes £38.5 billion to the economy in England alone. A figure which continues to rise as the size of the population over 65 requiring support grows. Yet it is a sector with over 110,000 care vacancies, and a turnover of more than 390,000 (30.7%) per year. This crisis in recruiting impacts those waiting to be discharged from hospital and those at home awaiting a care package. So how will Brexit add to an already critical situation within social care? The Department of Health itself estimates that there could be 28,000 fewer workers in the social care sector in England five years after leaving the EU. It also warns that this could have a knock-on effect on women’s participation in the workforce as they move out of paid employment to take on informal care roles. The result of this would be hundreds of thousands of hours’ worth of lost earnings, mainly for women. Given over 104,000 EU nationals and 129,000 non-EU nationals work within the sector, we can’t be complaisant about the impact Brexit and a points-based immigration policy will have. With the UK government’s announcement on 19 August that European Union (EU) “free movement” rules will end immediately if there is a ‘No-Deal’ Brexit on 31 October 2019, new immigration restrictions become more likely. The immediate impact for employers would include: The risk to the social care sector is that visas may only apply to skilled workers with a salary in excess of £30,000. The average salary for a full-time social care worker in England is £9.10 per hour, less than £19,000 per annum. Currently, the most needed group of workers would fall outside of the proposed immigration salary threshold. All of these factors build up into the perfect storm for recruitment into the social care workforce. Conclusion Gender shouldn’t be a factor when it comes to employment, however social care remains predominately delivered by women. This traditionally low paid sector deserves better recognition and reward for the work its staff do. They improve the quality of peoples’ lives day in, day out. Early morning, late at night, 365 days a year in all weather, social care staff make sure the most vulnerable in society are safe. Isn’t it time we worked together to improve their lives?
Social care sector urged to back recruitment campaign
A recruitment campaign run by the Department of Health and Social Care is due to launch in a second phase after an overwhelming response from applicants earlier this year. People working in the adult social care sector are being urged by the Minister for Care to back the campaign –the first phase of which generated a 14% uplift in clicks on the ‘apply’ button for care roles on DWP Find a Job and 97% more searches for jobs containing ‘care’ or ‘care worker’. The next phase of the campaign will run from autumn 2019 to April 2020 with the Department calling for support from providers from across the adult social care sector to advertise vacancies through DWP Find a Job and share success stories. Minister for Care, Caroline Dinenage, said: “The social care sector is crying out for talented care workers with the right values. We’ve seen from the campaign already that there are the right people out there but there is still a huge demand and we must reach out to more people to show them that careers in adult social care can be varied, rewarding and flexible. I’m calling on the social care sector to rally together and lend us their support again to bring to life the true rewards of caring and showcase the qualities needed to do the vast range of diverse jobs in care.” Building on the success of the first phase which ran from February to April 2019, the campaign will continue to encourage and inspire people to consider and apply for jobs in adult social care by bringing to life the mutual reward for both those working in care and those they support, as well as showcasing the diversity of roles in the sector. Providers are being urged to send in case studies of those working in the sector and continue to advertise vacancies both on DWP Find a Job and on local jobs boards. A proven increase in applications for social care roles The campaign promises to make a real difference to providers. One in four (26%) care employers surveyed after the first phase saw an increase in either enquiries, applications, interviews or vacancies filled. By supporting the campaign and helping to bring to life the range of roles available, care providers stand to gain from increased quantity and quality of applicants for their own vacancies. Kicking off with an updated advertising creative that captures both the diversity and reality of working in the care sector, the next phase of the campaign will be promoted across outdoor posters, online TV adverts, radio, social media and digital channels, as well as PR and partnerships activity. This will include two big bursts of activity –one in the autumn and another in January – underpinned by a constant drumbeat throughout the year. An updated campaign toolkit and suite of materials free to download from the website will also be available for care providers to use. The first PR activity burst in the autumn will showcase the values and flexibility of working in care through recruitment events where those considering a career in care work, in particular those with existing caring responsibilities such as parents, will be invited to come for an interview with their children in tow. Two events will be held in London and Southampton, with care providers across the UK also encouraged to hold their own recruitment events – a toolkit to help them to do this will be available. The second burst will build on people’s desire for change and self-improvement in the New Year by showcasing how a new career in care could offer professional growth and development as well as more fulfilment. Beyond these bursts, the campaign will put a spotlight on all the types of care roles available in the sector. This will include a focus on mental health and complex needs, domiciliary care, rural care opportunities, individual employers and personal assistants, shared lives schemes and supporting people with learning disabilities. Skills for Care Interim CEO Andy Tilden said: “We fully support DHSC’s adult social care recruitment campaign, and we want every care provider to get involved as closely as they can supporting these critical efforts to find workers with the right values to take on jobs that offer huge professional and personal rewards. The upcoming PR recruitment events offers a great opportunity to speak to potential employees, showing them the flexibility and pride offered by starting a career in our growing sector, so we are confident providers will jump at the chance to get involved.” Ria Lyon, HR Co Ordinator, from Warrington said of the first phase: “At Making Space we have always used the Find a Job Government website to advertise all our vacancies but have never received many applications. Since the recruitment campaign we have definitely seen an increase through this site and our own website.” Claire, Support Worker at Agincare, who was photographed for some of the adverts in the 2018/19 campaign: “When I originally found out I was going to be taking part in the campaign, I was so excited to be sharing the amazing job I do. Unfortunately, people don’t see all of what is involved in being a carer so just sharing a small part is just amazing.” Can you help boost social care recruitment campaign? If you are a care provider and would like to support the recruitment campaign by sharing case studies, please contact everydayisdifferent@dhsc.gov.uk. Over the coming months the DHSC team will also be sharing activity plans and engaging directly with specific members of the sector to help them best showcase the variety of roles in the care industry. See the social care recruitment campaign website at everydayisdifferent.com and the Facebook page at facebook.com/everydayisdifferent
How social care providers can retain staff for longer
Although recruitment within the social care industry is important in order to attract the right people into your organisation, retaining good current members of staff is equally important in order to run an effective care home business. Statistics by Skills for Care estimate that every year 390,000 people leave their job in social care, which equates to 1,000 per day, leaving approximately 110,000 vacancies at any one time. Recruiting and retaining a skilled workforce, who have compatible values, can help care home organisations deliver a high quality and consistent level of care and support. Cohesion, a specialist social care recruitment company, recently surveyed care organisations on recruitment and retention. The research revealed that over half (55%) of respondents found retaining staff to be a bigger challenge than recruiting. Here Will Shepherd, CEO at Cohesion, shares his advice on how to promote better staff retention: 1. Provide role clarity – Candidates want to know the detail and if you fail to tell them up front, things can go wrong down the line. Include daily duties of the role, information about the service and team and the benefits of how to apply. It is important to highlight how the employee can make a positive difference in the advert and throughout the recruitment process – because research tells us this is the most important reason candidates will choose to apply. 2. Induction and training – When a new recruit starts working for a care home, the onboarding process is a crucial step in making them want to stay with an organisation long-term. Delivering a good induction scheme with associated training, has proven to be better than spreading training out over the first few months. Our research found that 72% of candidates surveyed at 12 weeks into their new role said that ‘opportunities to develop in and beyond their current role’ was important to them. Our research also found that 96% of all new starters who had been made to feel welcome by their manager described themselves as either ‘happy’ or ‘very happy’ in their role. It’s important to focus on other areas apart from CQC compliance training. Make it exciting by selling your business, the team and the organisation’s culture. When a new member of staff starts, shadowing and supernumerary shifts alongside existing members of staff, can have a huge impact on their confidence and enjoyment of the role. 3. Use social media – Social media is often used to attract people into a role during recruitment, but it is now having a huge impact as an engagement tool for the retention process. However, our survey revealed that 65% of social care organisations did not use social media as part of their employee retention strategy. Utilise personnel success stories across your social media channels, encouraging people to join the organisation’s community. Social media can also be used to encourage new starter recommendations – motivate, and if possible, reward staff for making candidate introductions and referrals. Consistency is key and maintaining a social media presence can ultimately make a huge impact. 4. Work-life balance in social care – Our survey revealed that 40% of people who said they were ‘very unhappy’ combined with the 32% who were ‘unhappy’, did not feel that the hours and shifts were suitable for their work-life balance or travel arrangements. The more flexible the working environment, the wider the audience of potential applicants. We are aware that this can sometimes be hard to apply within a care home, but any flexibility that you can offer in terms of shift patterns and rotas is appreciated by staff. The rewards make it worth it! 5. Listening and acting on employee feedback – By the time a member of staff is taking part in an exit interview, it is really too late to identify and solve any problems they may have faced during their period of employment. A ‘stay interview’, which takes place while an employee is still employed, provides a great opportunity to build a trusting relationship and is a chance to assess the degree of employee satisfaction and engagement. While you may not need to hold stay interviews with all employees, it’s especially important to hold them with key members of staff who might be considering a career change. Be sure to listen to your employee, take notes and action their suggestions, if they don’t feel like anything is going to change, you won’t get honest feedback. Cohesion employs some 50 recruitment experts from its headquarters in Solihull. For more information visit cohesionrecruitment.com or call 0121 713 6956. Sources: skillsforcare.org.uk/Recruitment-retention Cohesion data (2019)
British healthcare in crisis
Jonathan Bruce, Managing Director at Prestige Nursing + Care, discusses the need for politicians to focus on the future of healthcare. They say a week is a long time in politics, and the past few have seen the long-term future of British healthcare plunge deeper into uncertainty. The latest episode of this healthcare crisis was aired in May, with the news that the Social Care Green Paper was not to be published for at least another five months. It had been originally slated for Autumn 2017. What makes this issue and development particularly worrying is the supposed disagreement on how to fund the plans, between No10, the Treasury and the Department for Health, which has become so wide that there have been rumours that the Green Paper could be dropped permanently. This would be disastrous for all concerned in the care industry. Uncertain times for healthcare The change in Prime Minister will only serve to continue the confusion and stagnation surrounding the long-term healthcare plans. Can the new PM really balance the task of getting the care industry out of this crisis while getting to grips with the most important job in the country over the coming months? Moreover, the next Prime Minister will have their own agenda, ambitions, as well as people in mind to fill Cabinet positions. It’s possible that Matt Hancock won’t remain as Health Secretary beyond this leadership election, as one of his competitors may have brought in someone that aligns more with their beliefs. We have little idea of what the next Health Secretary will do with these Green Paper plans, whether they’ll support them or rip them up and start again. All this means is that the Green Paper that could do so much good for the industry will fall further and further away from seeing the light, at a time when it is needed the most. See prestige-nursing.co.uk to learn more about the healthcare provided by the group.
Overcoming loneliness and improving Extra Care at Grand Union Housing Group
by Jan Davis, Dementia Project Officer (Extra Care & Dementia), Grand Union Housing Group At Grand Union, we’ve long seen the impact of loneliness and feelings of social exclusion amongst our older customers, but with new developments in digital technologies, we’ve been able to tackle this problem head-on. By adopting modern ways of care and support, we can ensure our customers continue to live happy, healthy, engaged and independent lives. Digital technology has revolutionised care and support for customers at Quince Court – our Extra Care scheme in Sandy, Bedfordshire – after replacing our analogue system with Appello’s Smart Living Solutions. They now benefit from apartment‐to‐apartment video calls, video door entry system, upgraded smoke detectors and pendants for each resident to wear in case of emergency. Extra Care, extra quickly Most significantly, we have improved speed of access to support down from minutes to seconds, with much better two‐way speech, which can be far less confusing for older people. If someone is ill or unable to leave their apartment, they can call friends or carers for a chat, helping to promote social engagement in situations where normally they might feel isolated. Central Bedfordshire Council’s care team works in partnership with our independent living advisors to give the best level of 24‐hour care and support for customers at Quince Court. If a customer calls for assistance and one of the care team is busy with another customer, the call will automatically get routed to the Appello monitoring centre after a few seconds, to reassure the customer that help is coming. If it’s an emergency, then an ambulance will be called straight away ensuring help arrives as quickly as possible. It is hard to articulate the difference this has made to the carers. Now they know that every customer is getting support, even when they are busy elsewhere and without being torn between calls for help. Carers can prioritise incoming emergency calls and the Extra Care team can now proactively monitor the calls to see when and where support calls are generated, allowing us to proactively improve the services we offer. It’s great that through using digital technologies, we are able to help combat social exclusion and with an ever-growing older population and more people developing dementia and Alzheimer’s, we can subsequently help older people to remain in their own homes, outside of formal care for longer. For more information, see guhg.co.uk
MMC: Making affordable homes for the elderly
Agile Ageing Alliance is a joining of innovators from across the building and housing sectors, as well as health, care, design & technology and finance advisors who have come together to produce a new way of retirement living. Neighbourhoods of the Future is a vision which modern methods of construction (MMC) can make a reality, providing much-needed affordable homes for the elderly as well as younger people. Here, Ian Spero – founder of Agile Ageing Alliance – answers editor Victoria Galligan’s questions on how MMC can help to solve the housing crisis. How many more affordable homes for the elderly are needed? Today, there are more than 11 million people aged 65 and over in the UK, by 2035, there will be 17 million. According to the Local Government Association, we are looking at a shortfall of more than 400,000 units of housing for older people by 2030 Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), emerging ‘smart’ technologies and big data analytics present possibilities for everyone. However, their potential impact on the way people, especially older adults, engage with the built environment is relatively unexplored. In a world where social networks are leading to a pandemic of loneliness, addressing the Ageing Society Challenge at a neighbourhood level should be a priority. Neighbourhoods are the settings where residents can socialise, realise common values, and achieve a level of social control and purpose. Why is MMC a good choice compared to traditional methods? The UK is facing an acute housing shortage. A better use of modern construction processes and materials could fix this, enabling thousands more homes to be built faster, cheaper and more efficiently; potentially transforming the quality and specificity of UK housing. Yet as things stand, our dependence on bricks and mortar defines a sector that is technologically moribund. Are there lessons to be learned from the successes of the automotive industry? Writing in the Agile Ageing Alliance’s Neighbourhoods of the Future 2019, report – commissioned by Tata Steel, Kieran Singleton Co-founder, of automotive design specialists Forge Design – expands on this theme: “Car manufacturers first recognised the benefits of platform manufacturing decades ago. To make better products more affordable, it is standard practice in the automotive world to try and maximise the amount of inter-vehicle commonality. This level of standardisation could have led to a conveyor belt of similar products and a huge reduction in user choice. But, by aspiring to great design, manufacturers have taken advantage of the platform approach to deliver exciting new concepts, embraced by the public at both ends of the price spectrum.” For our neighbourhoods of the future, the platform approach offers new opportunities for customised housing. This is particularly relevant for technologically enabled “adaptive” housing which can support independent living in later life. Matt Cooper is a leading advocate for MMC at Arup, an independent firm of designers, planners, engineers, consultants and technical specialists which made its name as the designer and engineer behind some of the world’s most ambitious structures. According to Matt: “The creative pioneers of the new generation of MMC not only have the opportunity to alleviate our housing shortage but to change the way housing is delivered across the social spectrum. With adaptable and agile regeneration capabilities built in by design, within the next 10-20 years, MMC may not only halt the downward spiral in our housing market, but act as the catalyst for a new social economy.” How are the units made accessible to people with mobility needs? Making our homes more accessible to people with mobility needs is a pre-requisite for an ageing population. Let’s face it, our perception of space, the elements in our environment that we find restorative or tiring, helpful or strenuous, change as we age. This happens together with changes in our bodies. New build housing and indeed retrofit homes can be made more accessible – and safer – by replacing steps with slopes/ramps, installing grabrails/handrails, trial installation of emerging new design of compact lifts, change floor coverings etc. Lighting can be improved to illuminate risk areas/install automated lighting (e.g. landings, motion/ pressure sensors when person gets out of bed). The bathroom is a top hazard area with regard to falls injury and could benefit from the use of non-slip flooring, lighting (as mentioned), taps/ other fittings as well as shower installation. Kitchen units can be lowered for easy reach from wheelchairs. Digital/ assistive technology measures have huge potential to improve lives. For some older people, it will be useful to offer an enhanced package such as the installation of sensors, alarm systems, automated use of environmental controls, the trial of new solutions, and/or innovative use of more mainstream systems such as Alexa etc. Frankly, we are still scratching the surface of what we can do by combining better design, new products and interoperable systems and enabling technologies to empower people in later life. You can read more about retrofitting in a great article by Sue Adams OBE CEO of Care & Repair England in the aforementioned Neighbourhoods of the Future report How do you envisage constructing enough units to meet this growing need? A wholesale commitment to MMC and the aims and aspirations outlined in our report could make a substantive difference at scale. We are speaking with developers and local authorities around the country who are keen to do things differently. By way of example, a pioneering independent developer Regents Regeneration is planning to build a new multigenerational neighbourhood in Coventry. The exciting thing about the Regents scheme is they intend to build a factory outside of the City where they will construct the new homes off-site. Furthermore, the idea is to work with Coventry University to evaluate the impact on residents. The university also plans to incorporate a teaching facility to address a growing skills shortage in the construction market. I will let Dr Evangelia Chrysikou, Healthcare Facilities Programme Director at UCL’s Bartlett Real Estate Institute, have the final word: “We must explain to people the benefits of inclusive societies. This needs
