The State Of the UK Care Sector in Winter 2022

Challenges for the Care industry are mounting, and this winter looks to be a difficult time for Care Providers and their users.

But what are the main issues, and how can we overcome them? Let’s investigate:

Worker Shortages

Anyone familiar with the Care industry will be well aware of the staff shortages that we are experiencing, with some estimates suggesting that in 2022 the UK will be short of around 165,000 care workers.

This isn’t just an inconvenience for Care Providers and their service users, but it’s having a much wider impact across the whole country. Without care places available to discharge patients into, the NHS is forced to keep many people in hospital long after they are healthy enough to return home, contributing significantly to the increasing waiting lists and other problems for the organisation.

One potential way to alleviate the problem could be more recruitment from overseas. The Care industry is no stranger to this, although in recent years the perception of this has changed and it is now considered much more difficult than it once was. For more information, check our Overseas Recruitment Report.

Inflation

A further squeeze on capacity and margins, inflation in fuel, food, and especially in utilities, is another major difficulty for Care. Many Care Users are vulnerable people who need to keep warm.

Care Providers are therefore forced to look for ways to economise, without compromising on care quality.

At Care Hires, our main priority is making sure that Providers can fill all the shift gaps in their rosters with reliable staff offering a consistently high-quality service, but the automation within the system and our agency network means we can also deliver huge administration savings and often significantly reduced agency spend overall. At a time when every penny counts, these benefits are even more important than normal.

Budget increases incoming

Despite the doom and gloom there are some small signs that improvements are on the horizon. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in the autumn budget statement that the equivalent of an extra £7.5 billion in 2023/24 for the care sector. This will go towards funding more care workers, and increasing the quality of care across the UK.

This represents an opportunity for Care Providers who are able to adapt and take advantage of the new resources that will be available. Because Care Hires manages agency management for the Care Providers in our network and we always ensure there is excess capacity available for you to grow, take on new services, and fulfil every shift.