Social care 360: workforce and carers

7. Care worker vacancies

Vacancies have fallen due to an increase in overseas staff  

Why is this important?

The vacancy rate is an important indicator of providers’ capacity to deliver social care services. Staffing also affects quality: higher staff-to-bed ratios in care homes correlate with higher CQC ratings. In an open jobs market, it is also an indicator of the relative attractiveness of social care as a career compared to other sectors.    

What was the annual change?

Between 2023/24 and 2024/25, the vacancy rate* fell from 8.3% to 7.0% and the number of vacancies fell from 126,000 to 111,000. There was a continued gap between the vacancy rate in adult social care and the vacancy rate in the wider economy (2.4%). The percentage of unfilled posts in the NHS (which is calculated differently from the vacancy rate in social care) was 6.7%.

The vacancy rate in the independent sector (which accounts for most jobs in social care) was higher (6.9%) than in the local authority sector (5.9%).

The vacancy rate was lowest in the North East (5.0%) and highest in London (8.5%).

There was variation within sectors and roles, with higher vacancies in domiciliary care (9.7%) than in residential care (4.4%), and higher vacancies for registered managers (11.4%), regulated professionals (7.5%), care workers (8.5%) and personal assistants (9.2%), but lower vacancy rates for managerial job roles (3.4%).

What is the long-term trend?

 After peaking at over 10% in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, the level of overall vacancies in social care has now returned to pre-pandemic levels. In the independent sector, vacancies were estimated at 7.2% in 2018/19 but reduced to 7.0% in 2024/25.

What explains that trend?

The fall in the vacancy rate, from the historic high in 2021/22, has been driven by a sharp increase in the number of overseas staff recruited to work in adult social care. Between March 2022 and March 2024, around 185,000 people started direct care roles after arriving in the UK from abroad, followed by a further 50,000 in 2024/25.

The increase happened because changes to government immigration policy in February 2022 enabled overseas care workers to take up care worker roles in the UK providing they had a licensed sponsor and the role had a salary of at least £20,480.

However, the number of UK domestic workers has fallen by 85,000 since 2020/21, and pay remains a significant factor in domestic recruitment. Although pay for care workers has increased in real terms year on year since 2014 (see indicator 8, pay), the rate of increase has failed to keep pace with some other sectors.

The vacancy rate in social care continues to be much higher than the overall unemployment rate, and it appears that as unemployment falls, social care vacancies rise. This suggests that for many people, other types of work are more attractive than social care. Vacancy rates in adult social care are much higher than in other areas of the economy, such as retail (2.1%), education (1.7%) and manufacturing (2.1%).

However, pay is not the only factor in recruitment. Employees also value wider terms and conditions, good working conditions (especially flexibility), and a positive culture and leadership.    

What has happened in 2025/26?

Monthly tracking data of the independent sector from Skills for Care, while less comprehensive, suggests that the vacancy rate in adult social care has stabilised. In November 2025, it stood at 6.7%, the same level as in May 2025. The latest data is here.

The government has continued to place restrictions on overseas care workers. In December 2025, it proposed that social care staff who arrived on Health and Care visas from February 2022 would have to wait 15 years before they could apply for permanent residence, rather than 5 years. Provider groups have argued that the moves are unfair and risk worsening the sector’s workforce issues.

In December 2025, the government created the legal framework for the establishment of a fair pay agreement in adult social care. Under the Employment Rights Act, a negotiating body will be established involving care providers and trade unions, and will be charged with negotiating a legally binding improved pay, terms and conditions agreement for care workers.

*Most of the statistics in this section are drawn from the Skills for Care report, The state of the adult social care sector and workforce in England 2025.

8. Pay

Careworker pay is increasing and a fair pay agreement is on its way

Why is this an important indicator?

Care workers and support workers make up around 925,000* of the 1.6 million filled posts in the social care sector. Pay in the independent sector (ie, not including local authorities), which employs 4 in every 5 staff, is a key factor in the sector’s ability to recruit enough staff to meet demand. It also makes up a large proportion of provider costs, particularly in home care. Levels of pay also correlate with CQC quality ratings.  

What was the annual change?

Median care worker pay in the independent sector in March 2025 was £12.00 an hour. Skills for Care, the industry workforce body, says this represents an increase of 6.3% in real terms since 2023/24.  

Mean care worker pay in the independent sector was £12.18 an hour in 2024/25. This is slightly worse than support and outreach workers’ pay, £12.20 an hour. Senior care workers earned £12.91 an hour, while personal assistants, who are employed directly by people drawing on care services, averaged £12.89 an hour.  

Care workers employed by local authorities had a mean hourly rate of £13.55 in 2024/25.    

What is the long-term trend?

 Since 2015/16, median care worker and support worker pay has increased by 23% in real terms. However, pay in other sectors has been increasing more quickly, and care work remains among the lowest paid in the economy as a whole. In 2012/13, care workers were paid more than retail sales assistants, but in 2023/24 they were paid roughly the same. In 2024/25, average care worker pay was 31p per hour less than newly employed health care assistants in the NHS. 

What explains that trend?

Care worker pay has grown since 2015/16, driven by the introduction of the National Living Wage, which has risen faster than inflation. Care worker pay and the statutory minimum wage have kept close company; according to Skills for Care, between March 2016 and March 2025, the median hourly rate for care workers increased on average by 52p a year, while the National Living Wage increased by 53p a year.

However, other sectors have proven more able to remunerate their lower-paid staff than social care. And while care worker pay has increased, there has been a negative effect on the pay progression of more experienced care workers, as employers attempt to control overall wage growth. Those with several years’ experience earn just 7p more an hour on average (mean) than those with less than one year’s experience, down from 33p more an hour in 2016.

What has happened in 2025/26?

On 1 April 2025, the National Living Wage increased to £12.21. In April 2026 it rose by 6.7% to £12.71.

Skills for Care analysis in December 2025 showed that increases in care worker pay have begun to slow down and are not keeping pace with the increase in the National Living Wage (NLW). Between March and December 2025, care worker pay increased by 1.7 percentage points less than the rise in the NLW – the widest gap between the two since 2019/20. As a result, more staff are being paid on the 'wage floor' (within 10p of the NLW). The most likely explanation for this is that the care providers who employ them were cutting back on increases in staff pay to absorb extra costs – from the rise in National Insurance contributions introduced in April 2025 and a failure to generate sufficiently large fee rate increases from local authorities.

The government has now legislated for the introduction of the first-ever fair pay agreement (FPA) in adult social care. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, a negotiating body will be established that brings together adult social care provider representatives and trade unions to negotiate pay, terms and conditions, and other related matters. The first fair pay agreement will be backed by £500 million of non-ringfenced grant funding for local authorities. In addition, according to illustrative costs in a government impact assessment, the first FPA could increase the cost of care for self-funders by £300 million and could create an additional cost pressure of £160 million on the NHS.

*Most of the statistics in this section are drawn from the Skills for Care report, The state of the adult social care sector and workforce in England 2025.

9. Unpaid carers

Despite recent increases, fewer carers receive support than in 2014/15

Why is this indicator important? 

Unpaid carers – anyone who provides care, unpaid, for a friend or family member – contribute the equivalent of four million paid care workers to the social care system. Without them, the system would collapse. 

What was the annual change? 

The number of carers receiving direct support – including paid support such as direct payments, services, and information and advice – increased from 295,000 in 2022/23 to 308,000 in 2023/24. The number of people provided with respite care (which is provided to support unpaid carers) stayed level at 36,000.  

What is the longer-term trend? 

The number of carers receiving direct support from local authorities was lower in 2023/24 than it was in 2015/16. It has fallen from 314,000 to 308,000. There has also been a shift in the type of support they receive. Fewer carers (30% in 2023/24 compared to 31% in 2015/16) now receive paid support and more receive advice, information and signposting (55% in 2023/24 compared to 50% in 2015/16). 

The number of people provided with respite care delivered to support their carers fell from 57,000 in 2015/16 to 36,000 in 2023/24. 

What explains this? 

The long-term fall in support for carers can be explained, at least in part, by pressure on local authority budgets, which has also impacted the number of people receiving long-term care (see indicator 2, receipt of social care). 

A further possibility is that fewer people are now unpaid carers. The 2021 census estimated the proportion of people in England providing unpaid care fell from 11.3% in 2011 to 8.9% in 2021, and said the number had fallen from 5.4 million to 4.7 million. However, this finding may have been affected by a change in the survey question and the impact of Covid-19 on caring behaviour. The proportion of people providing more than 50 hours of unpaid care a week increased, in fact, meaning that an estimated 1.4 million people in England provide this amount of care. Other data does not necessarily support the fall identified in the UK census: the total number of people claiming Carer’s Allowance has increased since 2016, from 1.2 million in in February 2016 to 1.4 million in February 2024.  

Additionally, the census found that the number of people providing more than 50 hours of unpaid care a week – who might reasonably be thought to be in most need of local authority support – had increased and was now an estimated 1.4 million people.  

What has happened in 2024/25? 

In November 2023, additional support for carers was incorporated into an Accelerating Reform Fund of £42.6 million over two years for local authorities and integrated care systems. Of the 122 projects being funded, 7 in 10 have an element supporting unpaid carers.