A new national recruitment campaign to help fill the 110,000 vacancies in the adult social care sector has launched.
The ‘Every Day Is Different’ campaign will show how rewarding social care careers can be – 96% of care professionals feel their work makes a difference to people’s lives. It will also highlight the opportunities for progression and professional development.
The campaign aims to attract new people with the right values to the sector and increase interest in adult social care as a vocation and highlight the range of job roles, with an initial focus on direct care roles such as care workers, where there is the most demand.
Over 1.45 million people work in the sector at the moment. It is predicted an additional 650,000 workers will be needed by 2035 to keep up with the rising numbers of people aged 65 and over.
The campaign has been developed in close collaboration with the adult social care sector and will run during February and March through social media, digital and local radio advertising, outdoor posters and events across England.
Advertising will feature real care workers and the people they support. The aim is to attract a diverse range of people, but the campaign will have a focus on people aged 20 to 39. Research suggests that this group is the most likely to consider a role in adult social care in the next 12 months.
Adult social care providers will be encouraged to engage with the campaign by providing case studies, advertising their vacancies on DWP Find a Job and promoting social media content using the hashtag #shareifyoucare. Materials will also be available to providers to equip them with information and assets to support the campaign locally.
Minister of State for Care Caroline Dinenage said “Adult social care is too often seen as the ‘Cinderella service’ to our NHS. I’m determined to change this perception, starting with our hardworking social care workforce.”
“There is huge demand for more care professionals who work incredibly hard to look after the most vulnerable people in our society. We must spread the word that careers in adult social care can be rewarding, varied and worthwhile. Care is a vocation where you can transform people’s lives and every day is different to the next.”
