Recruitment and retention – how do we address the staffing crisis in the care and support sector?

In response to our members highlighting the issue of recruitment and retention in the care and supported housing sector, we held two member roundtables in February.

Vacancies in the care sector rose from 6% in March 2021 to 9.8% in March 2022. This figure is anecdotally much higher in some supported housing settings.

At the round tables we heard from:

• Lee Buss-Blair, Director of Operations at Riverside
• Oona Goldsworthy, CEO Brunel Care
• Jaqueline De-Rose, CEO Progress Group
• Julie Blair, Executive Director of Corporate Services at Look Ahead Care and Support
• Jim Thomas, Head of Workforce Capacity and Transformation, Skills for Care

We heard some great examples of training and development opportunities for staff, work with colleges and further education establishments, and also incentives outside of the salary such flexible working, vouchers, bus passes.

We are now collating case studies to share with members on our website. If you have any examples of how your organisation has responded to recruitment and retention challenges that you would like to share, please get in touch with our team.