Following a report from Skills For Care, there are over 81,000 people who reside in the North East – spanning from Newcastle and Middlesborough, to Darlington and Sunderland. Within the North East, there are over 88,000 vacant jobs in the adult social care industry, with around 4,500 jobs being advertised on an average day.
The report highlighted that there was a decrease in the jobs that were able to be filled in the social care sector: 1.0% of all services, -1.8% of care home staff, and 3.1% of domiciliary care providers. It is also worth noting that 71% of jobs within the sector, in the North East, were filled from people already working in the adult social care industry.
84% of social care workers identify as females. However, 81% of these workers are less likely to be in a managerial role – such as a care home manager. 70% of the female workers are less likely to then progress, or be in, a senior management role. This means that 85% of female care workers are in direct care providing roles.
Age wise, around 29% of North East adult social care workers are aged 55+, with the main age range predominantly being younger.
Social care qualifications are popular amongst the current workers, with around 56% of care workers in the region holding a relevant social care qualification that aligns with the area of care work they are in. 52% of the qualification holders have a Level 2 qualification or higher. Alongside this, around 1,700 people start their social care apprenticeships every year.
During 2021, there was an increase of the annual pay of social care workers – raising 2% from £34,500 to £35,000. Despite this pay increase there is still a discrepancy between the kitchen and catering assistant that work in the social care sector too, with their wage still being 29p less.
