Vacancy Rates in Social Care Return to Pre-Covid Levels Report Reveals
Social care vacancy rates have returned to pre-Covid levels, according to the latest data from Skills for Care – the workforce development body for adult social care in England.
The annual ‘Size and structure of the adult social care sector and workforce in England’ report also found that the adult social care sector has continued to grow between April 2024 and March 2025, despite a significant fall in the number of international recruits.
The new figures – based on data from Skills for Care’s Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set (ASC-WDS) – show that the vacancy rate for 2024/25 fell to 7%. This was a return to similar levels seen prior to 2021/22, when the rate had peaked at 10.5%.
The total number of vacant posts in 2024/25 was 111,000, which is a 12.4% decrease on the previous year.
The number of filled posts grew by 3.4% to 1.6 million. This growth was smaller than the previous year, but still the second highest increase on record.
The report shows the turnover rate in the independent sector decreased from 25.8% in 2023/24, to 24.7% in 2024/25.
The number of international recruits fell from 105,000 in 2023/24 to 50,000 in 2024/25.
However, the number of posts filled by people with a British nationality continued to fall, decreasing by 30,000 in 2024/25 – a decrease of 3%. The overall decrease in posts filled by people with a British nationality since 2020/2021 is 85,000 (7%).
The total number of posts in adult social care in England – comprising filled and vacant posts – was 1.71m in 2024/25, and this is an increase of 2.2% from 2023/24.
The sector still faces long term recruitment and retention challenges as it is projected to need around 470,000 new posts – an increase of 27% – by 2040 to keep up with the projected growth in the population over the age of 65.
Skills for Care’s Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set (ASC-WDS) has data on more than 700,000 people in over 20,000 locations and enables data to be gathered flexibly on new areas of interest, to support policymaking and understanding of the workforce.
Oonagh Smyth, Skills for Care’s CEO, says:
“It’s encouraging to see the sector continuing to grow and the vacancy rate falling back to pre-Covid levels.”
“But we can’t afford to be complacent as some of this will be down to the fall in vacancies in the wider economy, which we know always benefits our sector. We need to protect ourselves from the wild swings in vacancy rates driven by the wider economic picture.”
“It’s important to recognise that, while the vacancy rate in social care has reduced, it’s still three times that of the wider economy. And the data show that we’ll still need 470,000 more posts by 2040, so all of us in adult social care need to stay focused on workforce issues.”
“Building resilience means investing in stable recruitment and retention and making roles more attractive to the domestic workforce over the long term. That includes improving development opportunities, improving the quality of roles and supporting positive cultures within organisations.”
“The sector is strongly committed to action. It’s been a year since we published the Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care in England, when the sector came together to develop it under Skills for Care’s leadership. We’ve made a lot of progress implementing it over the past year and more than half of the Strategy’s recommendations and commitments are already in progress or complete.”
“We know there’s lots more to do, though. Everyone – from Government to care providers, from regulators to frontline staff – has a role to play in building the workforce we need to deliver the best possible care and support for the people in our communities who draw on local services.”
Kathryn Marsden OBE Chief Executive of SCIE, said:
“The fall in vacancy rate is cause for optimism, but the picture overall is still one of high turnover, persistent recruitment difficulties, and a sector held together by the goodwill of overstretched staff.”
“The system is precariously dependent on overseas workers, who make up a growing proportion of new starters. This overreliance is not a sustainable strategy, and it leaves the entire care system vulnerable to policy changes and political headwinds beyond its control.”
“SCIE welcomes the sector-wide collaboration led by Skills for Care in shaping the Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care. It provides a strong, shared foundation to tackle urgent challenges around recruitment, retention, and workforce stability. We now call on the government to work with the sector to prioritise and implement key elements of the strategy, particularly around pay, career progression, training, and wellbeing. Achieving parity of esteem with the NHS is not only fair but essential, given the critical role the adult social care workforce will play in enabling the success of the 10-Year Health Plan and ensuring people receive care closer to home.”
“There are reasons to be hopeful. The proposed Fair Pay Agreement has the potential to be a transformative step forward – recognising the skills of care workers, improving their economic security, and creating conditions that encourage people to stay and build their careers in care. High turnover affects care quality and continuity, disrupts relationships, and ultimately harms those who draw on care and support services.”
“But a Fair Pay Agreement must be implemented as part of a broader commitment to workforce reform. It cannot be another isolated policy fix. We must ensure the voices of care workers, providers, and people who draw on care are central to designing a future-proof system.”
Lucinda Allen, Policy Fellow at the Health Foundation, said:
‘Skills for Care’s report shows that challenges recruiting and retaining enough social care workers have eased since peaking in 2021. Workers from outside the UK continue to hold up the care system in England. The number of British workers in social care has steadily declined since Brexit and they now represent just 70.8% of roles compared to 84.6% in 2019/20. Given government measures to reduce immigration, the shrinking domestic workforce raises serious concerns that care providers could struggle to recruit enough workers in the years ahead.”
‘Overseas workers are essential to the UK health and care system but it’s clear that recent international recruitment has not always been ethical. Today’s report shows the care sector has recruited heavily from ‘WHO red list’ countries which face significant shortages of health and care workers. Our recent analysis also highlighted that social care workers from outside the UK face particularly high risks of poverty and exploitation.”
‘Caring for older people and disabled people is vital and rewarding work but has long been underpaid and undervalued. Making jobs in social care more attractive and tackling high levels of poverty among workers requires significant improvements to pay, career progression and employment conditions. It’s vital that the government delivers on its plans for a ‘Fair Pay Agreement’ for social care.’
Nuffield Trust Fellow Camille Oung, said:
“More job vacancies being filled in social care is undoubtedly a thing to celebrate, as it should mean more people receive better support from care services. However, social care is still actively losing homegrown workers. The sector continues to be propped up by international recruitment, but the UK government is now taking multiple measures that kick away that support strut. As well as the specific block on visas for care workers, the wider tightening on immigration is likely to mean there will be fewer migrants on other types of visas who might work in the sector.”
“With these barriers in place, there is a strong case for delivering better terms and conditions for care workers to attract and retain more homegrown staff, but the Employment Rights Bill measures aimed at achieving this are both some way off, and not clearly funded.”
