To think that most people are not aware of the dire staffing crisis in social care.

[TravellingSpoon]

I work in social care and have amazing colleagues across a range of services, however every single one without fail is short staffed, some dangerously so and they are not able to recruit staff to fill the tens of thousands of vacancies across the whole sector.

Its a perfect storm of staff burnout, low wages, covid, mandatory vaccinations and brexit.

I work in the community and our team is covering care provider handbacks as well as our normal caseload. These are cases that care providers just can't cover due to staffing issues.

Another concern is that some companies are becoming so desperate they are employing people who are not fit for the job. They don't have the skills or the right attitude for the job.

I love the job I do and couldn't imagine working in another sector, but to me it feels like its on the brink, and it never gets the same sort of love that the NHS gets, the handwringing and the campaigning.

My niece works in a care home. She is at university so only works twelve hours a week. On her days off she is often harassed by the care home managers who want her to do overtime which is impossible as she is a full time student.
She is a lovely caring young lady but has told her parents that she does not want to work in the care home as there have been a number of occasions whereby she has been left to care for up to fifteen service users by herself. This includes providing personal care, feeding etc. The service users all have dementia .
This is a care home which cost £1350+ a week. My niece earns under £9
an hour.
She is looking for a job in a supermarket.

It is a massive problem. The problem started quite some time ago-LA rates for care were below the actual cost of providing care to the person, so homes were forced to charge more for private residents to balance the books. The profit margin in a home actually providing good care was razor thin even a couple of years ago. Small enough in fact that even an extra agency staff bill could wipe it out. Retention has always been a problem and if you are properly recruiting and training people for probabionary periods (and using this properly to assess suitably and inevitably letting some go) there are costs attached to this too. Then Brexit caused more vacancies to recruit into. Then COVID decimated the sector, for 2 reasons-1) Staffing and additional costs and 2) Increased vacancies in homes

This was ignored whilst everyone was out clapping. At the worst, our agency bill for a small independent home for one month was £50,000 to keep everyone safe and the amount spent on masks (when no one could get them via pandemic stock) was £5,000 a month. Our occupancy at that stage was 21 residents, paying approx £760/week-mostly less than this. That means after the agency bill and masks (not even other PPE),there was £8840 to pay regular staff, food, bills etc etc.

It is chronically under funded and was always one crisis away from this. I am deeply worried for my colleagues still in the sector.

Social care was in a mess before Covid, my ex husband has carers 4 times a day, he should have a 1 hour call in a morning for shower, dressing, meds, breakfast, 2 × 20 minutes calls for lunch + meds & tea + meds & a 30 minute call for meds + undress +bed. He has been lucky to get showered once a week because the carers were too busy, they sometimes don't turn up for his breakfast call until 11.00am which messes his meds up & would turn up at 6.00pm to put him to bed. He needs to be showered every day because he has a suprapubic catheter & the site needs to be kept super clean, he has been admitted to hospital 5 times during the pandemic for infections.

The biggest problem with social care is that councils are only prepared to pay nmw for home social care so a lot of the carers just aren't up to the job. They contract the care out to private providers who don't train the carers properly, it should be brought back in house to councils.

I guess they need to pay regular staff a decent wage, get enough to cover shifts and retain them. The job just isn't attractive enough to make people want to start / stay. I know agency/ bank staff costs are higher - surely by having better pay for your staff generally, you could cut down the times you need the agency cover (and those higher costs). And having no care spaces (due to lack of staff), then also impacts on nhs costs as people in hospital can't leave, so block the beds, costing the nhs ££ too. The government really need to see it all as part of the same problem to be fixed and give proper money and thought towards this. But they won't as they don't care enough about it.

@YeOldeTrout

Staffing crisis in social care has been in the news a lot in last 10 years, and was a talking point in 2016 referendum... people just don't pay attention or want to remember.

Or they did pay attention, but fell for the Brexit lies about "Project Fear" and are embarrassed to admit it.

@bloodywhitecat and @tophonetheGP, I'm so sorry you're going through this.

And to every MN'er who voted for this shite, I hope you're pleased with yourselves. This is down to you. Own it.

I think people are aware, but don't give it headspace unless it affects them.

Care work is vastly underpaid and undervalued.

@Topbird29

I guess they need to pay regular staff a decent wage, get enough to cover shifts and retain them. The job just isn't attractive enough to make people want to start / stay. I know agency/ bank staff costs are higher - surely by having better pay for your staff generally, you could cut down the times you need the agency cover (and those higher costs). And having no care spaces (due to lack of staff), then also impacts on nhs costs as people in hospital can't leave, so block the beds, costing the nhs ££ too. The government really need to see it all as part of the same problem to be fixed and give proper money and thought towards this. But they won't as they don't care enough about it.

That might work for private care, where people are self-funding their placements.

But when the cost of care is met by councils, the amount they can pay is restricted and simply not enough to permit homes to pay more.

@Nat6999

Social care was in a mess before Covid, my ex husband has carers 4 times a day, he should have a 1 hour call in a morning for shower, dressing, meds, breakfast, 2 × 20 minutes calls for lunch + meds & tea + meds & a 30 minute call for meds + undress +bed. He has been lucky to get showered once a week because the carers were too busy, they sometimes don't turn up for his breakfast call until 11.00am which messes his meds up & would turn up at 6.00pm to put him to bed. He needs to be showered every day because he has a suprapubic catheter & the site needs to be kept super clean, he has been admitted to hospital 5 times during the pandemic for infections.

The biggest problem with social care is that councils are only prepared to pay nmw for home social care so a lot of the carers just aren't up to the job. They contract the care out to private providers who don't train the carers properly, it should be brought back in house to councils.

It's not what councils are prepared to pay, it's what they can afford. And the law requires them to award contracts to the lowest bidder. Bringing it back in-house would require a change to local government procurement rules.

This is, of course, perfectly possible post-Brexit, but I can't somehow see this govt taking advantage of it if that means an increase in public spending.

I'd love to see services brought back into the public sector, but I'm not even sure Starmer's NuLabour would go for that, the Tories never will.

All these things come back to political decisions in the end.

We are in the process of planning our 19 year olds transition to supported living and this terrifies me.

I work in a supported living setting and we are struggling by shift by shift. I can't remember the last time we were fully staffed for the morning shift. We are a very close knit group and so oftentimes the night staff are waiting on till others can get in for a few hours, staff who live close by are whizzing in to cover meds rounds and meds checks, some are coming in for a couple of hours to cook dinner etc.

obviously it's stressful for staff but what saddens us more is the limits it puts into the people we support in terms of what they can do and where they can go. Lots of karaoke parties going on in-house at the moment, and hot dog nights!!

I keep wondering when the Big Crunch will
Happen. I’be used many carer agency’s for myself over the years pay and conditions also been dreadful. They never wanted employ part time staff say a student on 6-10pm shift it was also some poor sod working 7-7 and getting worn out and you being out bed at 6pm because that’s latest they can do. Business up down country can staff evening shifts but care agency’s can’t.

I used direct payments when we told pay carers £10.50 say 15y ago which was decent ish amount when mim Wage was £5 but that hasn’t gone up at all. Now it’s what 50p over mim wage?

I know many people struggling get home private care to as EU rules mean many just aren’t moving and working here.

Really sad for care homes when pay £1500 month and lucky if get shower once a week it’s criminal. We need take out profit and run as NHS facilities and if fees still don’t cover then Gov pays extra. If they do bring their max lifetime costs in and start pouring money in still can’t see staff getting paid proper wage.

All those HGV drivers suddenly had pick
Of jobs and pay wonder if care sector even get like that? But I’ve been hoping last 20y!

One council paper.

edemocracy.northyorks.gov.uk/documents/s10411/Addendum%20to%20Q2%20Performance%20Budget%20Report.pdf

@GalaPie

I work in a supported living setting and we are struggling by shift by shift. I can't remember the last time we were fully staffed for the morning shift. We are a very close knit group and so oftentimes the night staff are waiting on till others can get in for a few hours, staff who live close by are whizzing in to cover meds rounds and meds checks, some are coming in for a couple of hours to cook dinner etc. obviously it's stressful for staff but what saddens us more is the limits it puts into the people we support in terms of what they can do and where they can go. Lots of karaoke parties going on in-house at the moment, and hot dog nights!!

And the problem is that if you continue to meet need at reduced staffing levels management start to think the extra staff are superfluous. But the alternative of actually not meeting need is just unthinkable.

I managed a residential home for young adults for years, worked my way up from the bottom and loved my job and providing really high standards of care to the people who lived there. We had a brilliant staff team and low staff turnover.
I left in the end because over the years the budget for staffing went down and down gradually, until we couldn't afford to cover sickness and annual leave and the people who lived there weren't getting the person cantered care they deserved. It was always at safe levels (because I would cover) , but just for the basics of them existing. There were not high enough staff ratios for them to go out individually or in small groups. I was covering shifts and popping in to be an extra body so they could go out . As manager I couldn't claim any overtime for this.
I sobbed when I left, but I wasn't willing to do it anymore ,and it was only a matter of time before sickness or an emergency , when I physically couldn't go in to support, meant it was unsafe. I was the Registered Manager and I felt really vulnerable.
I got an office job on not much less than I was on as manager, with M-F 9-5 working . This was over ten years ago, so god knows how it is now.

Over 10 years of a conservative government has led us to this!

There are wider issues here concerning how care homes are structured, namely, often by private equity companies looking for returns on their investments. It is not in their interests to 'care' for residents or to treat their staff as anything other than a statistic on a balance sheet. They have complex company structures often with headquarters in tax havens like the Bahamas. A significant portion of the fees paid by self-funders goes on servicing debts, not on their own care. There are some places where we should have never allowed free markets to run unchecked and this sector is one of them; somebody's basic human needs should not be another's cash cow. How can a society claim to be civilized when it treats care workers and those who rely on them like we do?

I have to say that within my organisation budgets are not the issue - and staffing levels won't be dropped if it looks like we are 'coping' on fewer staff. We have a clear vision of what life should look like for our people and how many staff that takes and it wasn't never an issue till about 4 months ago.
We pay well above NLW with regular cash and in kind bonuses, good leave allowance, clear and accountable management structure. Still we cannot recruit new staff. Those interviewed are clearly not right for the job. We have arrangements with 4 local agencies and often none of those can cover shifts.

@GalaPie

Do you think part of the reason could be the societal attitude towards the care industry? Many people I talk to about my job say "I couldn't or wouldn't do/put up with that!" The job comes with certain attitudes of not being able to do better, being a low skilled worker because you can't/can't be bothered to 'better' yourself, the stigma that always comes with being a low earner who doesn't need a university education to do it.

Also every employer I've gone to says those things, not one I've worked for has actually delivered in real terms, I pretty much discount those promises in adverts and interviews and focus on the hourly rate and what I see at an interview at that time, I've almost in a way been institutionalised by my experiences in social care as a worker, and until you're in an organisation you don't see if they deliver or not on their promises.

Plus, I found a really good job opportunity with values like your organisation, values I want to be able to uphold in delivering care - they wouldn't give more than 20 hour contracts but said overtime is 'always available' - as much as I would have loved to vote with my feet as an experienced and good carer and work somewhere better, I can't live on 20 hours a week and the uncertainty that I might, one month, have to if overtime is unavailable.

Do you also offer training? Considering the dire state of training in social care, it's unsurprising to me that many people are deemed unsuitable for a role in a place where standards are so much higher than the average, they're likely trained on a shoe string via DVDs and online day courses and in some cases, pay for that themselves.

Places like yours should be the norm, not the exception shouldn't they? Unfortunately they're not though and you're maybe looking for people that don't exist, if they've been trained elsewhere they're unlikely to meet your standards as they've been trained to a much lower expectation.

Pay rates just need to go up, so care jobs become an attractive career, that's all.

@Dustyplumber

Pay rates just need to go up, so care jobs become an attractive career, that's all.

But that is much, much easier said than done.

@Galapie. I would be really interested to know which company you work in. I have worked for a fair few Nursing/ Care home big names( and small ones) over the years as an agency nurse and as non agency nurse. They have all been pretty dire.

I think all of us with folk needing care are aware. Sadly that doesn't include the government. Stop voting Tory!

www.theguardian.com/society/2021/dec/15/care-workers-fast-track-visas-uk-migration-advisory-committee

Care work is never going to suit someone who’s in it for the £££.
A decent pay rate, a fair contract (hours, overtime, days off, length of shifts, training entitlements, sick pay, pension, holiday entitlement, compassionate leave, maternity, sabbaticals...) all needed. But the biggest is to have enough time to do the job properly- to encourage independence, help with diet/lifestyle, social contact etc. That’s what good carers want to do - not to nip in, haul someone out /in to bed, throw some good at them and ram medication in, sort out incontinence accidents, with a weekly shower if lucky.