“Dedicated care staff are leaving the profession in droves” – Mencap responds to the government’s ‘Made with Care’ campaign to boost social care recruitment

“Made with Care is only one step in fixing an unsustainable situation” – Mencap responds to the Department of Health and Social Care’s ‘Made with Care’ recruitment campaign 

The government’s new advertising campaign ‘Made with Care’ aims to fill tens of thousands of vacancies in the social care sector. According to a report from Skills for Care earlier this year, staff vacancies rose by 52% to 165,000 unfilled posts in 2021/22 – the largest annual increase since records began in 2012/13. 

Reacting to the recruitment campaign, Director of Communication, Advocacy and Activism Jackie O’Sullivan of the learning disability charity Mencap, said:  

“It’s great to see the government shining a spotlight on social care as the rewarding and life-affirming career that it is.  The last burst of advertising was heart-warming and really resonated with people working in the sector. However, the reality is that we have 165,000 vacancies in social care and an advertising campaign, no matter how good, is not going to be enough to fix that. 

“Disabled people depend on social care to lead meaningful lives, but dedicated care staff are leaving the profession in droves – not because they want to, but because they need to increase their pay by taking better paid jobs elsewhere. Without proper pay and reward, we will continue to lose staff to other sectors, and care users will see the support they rely on being undermined as a result. 

“Made with Care is only one step in fixing an unsustainable situation. We desperately need the government to put more money into social care to address this crisis. Only by doing so can we ensure that disabled and older people can access the support they need and provide a fair wage for care staff in recognition of the incredible work they do.”