The impact of coronavirus on the social care labour market

The pandemic is reshaping the social care labour market. Here’s what it could mean for you if you are recruiting care workers in 2020 and beyond.

COVID-19 is having a transformational, and in many cases long-lasting, impact on the labour market for care workers. Pre-pandemic, the adult social care sector had 120,000 vacancies in England alone and employers were struggling with many headwinds, not just the growing demand for care. But it feels like almost every factor influencing recruitment in our sector has been upturned since then.

To try to make sense of what is happening, I’ve considered past, present and future sector challenges that have been influenced by coronavirus, and shared my thoughts on what it all might mean for employers now and in the future.

Issue: the public’s lack of awareness of social care

Never before has adult social care, so long in the shadow of the NHS, or simply in the shadows come to think of it, had such a high national media profile for so long as during this pandemic. For much of the public, including active and future job seekers, that our sector exists at all will be news to them. Attempts by the Secretary of State for Health and Care to unite the sector under a ‘Care’ brand will have also helped to package in the minds of the public what is a disparate, fragmented and geographically dispersed sector.

Awareness is always the first step to attracting applicants. So far so good.

Issue: poor media image of frontline care workers

The courage and commitment of care workers has not gone unnoticed during these unsettling times. Through the ‘Clap For Our Carers’ initiative and the catch-all term ‘key workers’, care staff have received almost equal billing to frontline NHS workers. Previously public perceptions of care workers focused more on ‘low pay’ and ‘challenging conditions’, or perhaps a negative news story in the local press, so there has been a big shift. Whilst it won’t overcome the low wages and challenges of hands-on caring – and more recently the perceived risk of not enough PPE - a positive image will both encourage waverers considering joining us and, most importantly, bolster the pride of the existing workforce.

Perception of care workers is on the up – we don’t yet know if that’ll attract more people to work with us in the long term, but an injection of pride into the sector is invaluable nonetheless.   

Issue: a full employment economy

Recessions are good for healthcare recruitment. The labour pool widens for care employers in downturns, so choice increases. This is overall a big benefit, but with lots of choice, comes more effort to process, screen and identify those with a genuine calling for care from those whose main motivation is to have any old paid employment. We can’t predict whether displaced workers joining the social care workforce due to, say, financial stress, will stay. However, given the tight labour market pre-COVID, this single factor could be the most influential one by far when it comes to recruitment for the rest of 2020.

This can only be positive for the care sector, but it may not last long, and the demand for staff driven by an ageing population is a much longer-term fixture.

Issue: planned immigration restrictions

The proposed tightening of the immigration rules on 1st January 2021 is bad news for social care, particularly impacting providers in London and the South East, who rely on migrants to a greater extent than other parts of the UK (59% of the workforce in London’s care system is born abroad).

It is not inconceivable that policy U-turns will be made, but if sense doesn’t prevail, access to a vital pool of hard-working, reliable workers has gone.

Issue: Increased short-term staff absence

A national Employer poll I ran in association with CMM magazine at the end of March suggested up to 25% of frontline staff were off work due to factors related to the virus[1]. Thankfully this is improving fast and should continue to do so over the coming weeks unless we face a second wave of infection. A potential longer term impact, whose affects we have not yet seen, is the increased pressure and stress on the workforce who have worked throughout this pandemic period. There is likely, sadly, to be a price to pay on the mental health of the workforce, which may result in excess staff turnover down the line.

All of this applies pressure to recruit additional staff to maintain current capacity.

Issue: an increase in current workforce hours

Studies[2] in Australia in 2016 discovered there were considerable labour reserves in the form of under-utilisation of the care workforce. 54% of home care and home support direct care workers wanted to change their hours, 14% looking to decrease but a huge 40% willing to work more hours. This is likely to be reflected in the UK, especially given that many current care staff may find household incomes have been adversely affected by a partner or co-habiting earner losing their job.

Employers should always consider approaching existing staff about increasing their availability before hiring.

Issue: peripatetic workforce restrictions

There has been some publicity focused on the role of temporary agency staff as unknowing conduits of infection as they move between care homes. Public Health England has strongly recommended that care homes do all they can to restrict staff movement[3]. This will require ‘over-recruitment’ in many residential care settings to minimise the use of agency staff.

This will increase pressure to recruit – particularly ‘bank’ staff who are happy to be on-call and operate on a flexible employment contract.

Issue: local labour market factors

Social care recruitment is very localised. The Office for National Statistics reports that most care staff travel six miles or less to work[4]. As a result labour market conditions at a community-level are subject to wide variance. A major employer in the area shedding jobs could profoundly affect the level of applicants. Restrictions on the capacity of public transport may inhibit staff from reaching work.

At a national level it is impossible to quantify the impact of course, but recruiters need to be keenly aware of changing conditions in the community around them.

Issue: social distancing impacts

Social distancing has changed the way we recruit and on-board new starters. Video and telephone interviews may have made this stage of the recruitment process more convenient for both parties but they’ve certainly made it harder to make an accurate hiring decision. More induction training is moving online, limiting social interaction and therefore the all-important relationship-building aspect of new starters and their first experience of a care role. Recruiters are operating from home in many cases.

Overall, social distancing has reduced the efficiency and effectiveness of the hiring and on-boarding process and with it, the capacity to bring in new starters in a timely way. However, restrictions are expected to relax.

Issue: low pay

Wage levels are regularly cited as the biggest factor behind the sector’s workforce shortages. Although the role of pay is more complex than many realise. For example, wage increases can lead to staff handing back hours if they prioritise a work-life balance over increased income thus creating an increased need to recruit, especially to cover unsocial hours. It has also previously impacted on benefits. Despite these unexpected consequences, pay rises beyond the minimum wage floor are desperately needed. However, as councils are the biggest funders of social care services, this requires an increase in Government funding.

Will the sector now finally get that funding, given the vital role social care workers have played in the current crisis and the public’s acknowledgement of it? It’s too early to tell. For now it remains a dampener on demand for care jobs.

There is no denying that this virus will have, and has already had, a terrible impact on many of us, both socially and economically, but I believe that there are some positives to come out of this for care recruitment, at least in the short-term. From boosting social care’s image, to more pride in the workplace, here’s hoping more people have a genuinely higher regard for care workers than they did before, and many of them make the decision to discover how rewarding a job in the sector can be.

[1] https://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/adult-social-care-workforce-data/Workforce-intelligence/publications/Topics/COVID-19/COVID-19-survey.aspx

[2] https://www.gen-agedcaredata.gov.au/Resources/Reports-and-publications/2017/March/The-aged-care-workforce,-2016

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-support-for-care-homes/coronavirus-covid-19-care-home-support-package#annex

[4] 2011 ONS Census Analysis - Distance Travelled to Work