Why are 900 Carers quitting the Social Care System every day?

Recently published figures by the Charity Skills for Care revealed that in England last year, more than 900 adult social care workers quit their job every day.

In response to the ongoing crisis facing the sector, the Chancellor did announce in his Spring Budget 2017 that £2bn was being made available help ease the pressures – with £1bn of this funding being available from 2017/18. In addition to this the Chancellor also allowed local authorities to raise council tax bills in order to fund social care services.

The ageing population means more pressure is facing adult social care systems than ever before, and the chairman of the UK Homecare Association has written to the Prime Minister to say that the adult social care system (which applies to anyone over the age of 18) is on the brink of collapse.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of people aged 75 and over is expected to double by 2040, and without any reforms, there will not be enough people to care for an ageing population.

However, is it just about the money? With the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage set to increase year upon year, things will only get tougher for a sector that struggles to pay those wages. The care sector has twice the turnover of staff than any other profession in the UK (27%).

But was this not indicated in the 1980’s when the Tories under Thatcher implemented the introduction of care management under the NHS and Community Care Act 1990 which saw direct, relationship-based work with adult users replaced with bureaucracy aimed at rationing resources?  The community care reforms outlined in the 1990 Act have been in operation since April 1993. They have been evaluated but no clear conclusions have been reached. Several authors have been highly critical of the reforms. Hadley and Clough (1996) claim the reforms 'have created care in chaos' (Hadley and Clough 1996). They claim the reforms have been inefficient, unresponsive, offering no choice or equity.

The Edith Ellen Foundation, managed to speak with a number of Social Care Workers to discuss the figures and the reasoning behind why so many are leaving. The Foundation explained to those who met with them that there were more than 1.3 million people employed in the adult social care sector in England, and roughly 338,520 adult social care workers left their job in 2015/16 – this equates to 928 people leaving their roles every day and that over half of these people never worked in the care sector again.

The honest and frank discussion this opportunity presented demonstrated that Carers aren’t leaving care because they don’t care anymore, but because they are:

·         Overworked

·         Underpaid

·         Pressurised to meet targets and timescales

·         Unable to spend the time actually caring, listening and supporting

·         Under trained and under skilled

·         Under staffed

·         Unappreciated

·         Unsupported

Is it any wonder then that the Social Care System faces difficulty and putting people at risk of receiving poor levels of care? These growing staff shortages are putting vulnerable people at risk of receiving poorer levels of care.