Variation in Social Care Cannot Be Fixed Without Investing in the Workforce

The Care Workers’ Charity (CWC) has responded to the Care Quality Commission’s first national report drawing together assessments of all 153 local authorities in England with adult social care duties. We welcome this first national picture and the report’s honesty about the unwarranted variation people experience from one area to the next. Where it matters most, that variation is a workforce story, and it will not close without investment in the people who deliver care.

The CQC found that most authorities are performing well under real pressure, with 60% rated good, but that delays in assessments, reviews and safeguarding were driven by workforce shortages and limited registered staff capacity rather than by individual practitioners.

Safeguarding, described as councils’ most important duty, drew the lowest scores in a number of areas. The CQC found some authorities relying on unregistered or insufficiently trained staff to carry out safeguarding duties, and warned that delays left people at increased risk of harm.

This reflects what care workers tell us. In our 2025 Wellbeing Survey of over 2,000 care workers, 37% said they often think about leaving and 26% plan to go as soon as they can, citing pay (65%) and the effect of the job on their health and wellbeing (61%). A system asked to reduce delay and hold people safe cannot do so while the workforce carrying that work remains this stretched and insecure.

The report points to what works: strong leadership, genuine co-production and commissioning that accounts for workforce pressures. Care workers should be part of that. They are skilled professionals with a direct view of where care breaks down and how to prevent it, and they belong in the design of the National Care Service, not only in its delivery.

Karolina Gerlich, Chief Executive of The Care Workers’ Charity, said:

“This report gives us, for the first time, a national view of how adult social care is delivered, and it is right to name the variation people face. Time and again it comes back to whether there are enough skilled, supported people to do the work. As government develops the National Care Service, we ask that foundational standards are matched with a plan for the workforce, and that care workers help shape it. We would welcome the chance to bring our Care Worker Advisory Board to that conversation.”

What needs to change

The Care Workers’ Charity is calling for:

• Government to pair any national standards for adult social care with a funded workforce plan covering pay, training and progression.
• Local authorities and commissioners to account for workforce pressures in fee-setting and service design, as the CQC recommends.
• Care workers to be involved directly in the design of the National Care Service through their lived experience.