The Workforce Crisis in Numbers

The scale of the care workforce shortage cannot be overstated. According to Skills for Care, the adult social care sector currently faces approximately 152,000 vacancies on any given day and it is projecting the UK will need an additional 540,000 care workers within the next decade. The Homecare Association reports that domiciliary care providers are turning away an estimated 3,000 new care requests weekly due to staffing shortages. Care England estimates that staff turnover rates hover around 30% annually—far higher than most other sectors.

And just this month, May 2025, Layla Moran the Liberal Democrat MP for Oxfordshire and chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, published the report "Adult Social Care Reform: the cost of inaction." In it, the committee concluded, amongst a plethora of other points: 1.5 million unpaid carers are providing over 50 hours of care per week to loved ones, and many of these withdraw partially or wholly from employment as a result...

These statistics paint a picture of a sector in crisis long before any changes to international recruitment. Any policy changes must be evaluated against this backdrop of chronic understaffing.

Local Recruitment Challenges

The firsthand experiences of care providers across the UK starkly illustrate the difficulties in recruiting domestically. A recent BBC report highlighted the case of care home manager Susan Asbury, who has been trying to recruit care staff for months with limited success. Despite advertising roles locally, she received just one application from a UK candidate over three months, compared to 10 applications from overseas.

"We have advertised locally. We've had one applicant in three months," she explained to the BBC. "We've advertised for overseas and we've got 10 applicants."

This real-world experience directly contradicts the government's assumption that restricting international recruitment will somehow stimulate domestic interest in care roles. The fundamental issue isn't competition from international workers—it's that there simply aren't enough UK applicants seeking these positions under current conditions.

Economic Realities for Providers

Care homes and agencies are already operating within tight financial constraints. Many rely on local authority funding that hasn't kept pace with rising costs. This economic pressure makes it nearly impossible to significantly raise wages to attract more domestic workers without additional funding.

When care homes already face closure due to financial pressures, mandating higher wages without corresponding funding increases creates an impossible situation. Providers are caught between meeting minimum wage requirements and staying financially viable.

The Government's Domestic Workforce Strategy: Disconnected from Reality

The government's proposition that unemployed individuals should fill care roles reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of care work. In the BBC investigation, care home manager Donna Pierpoint emphasises the challenging nature of care work: "Not everyone can do care. It's not an easy job."

This sentiment is echoed across the sector. Care requires specific personal qualities, emotional resilience, and a genuine commitment to supporting vulnerable people. The assumption that unemployed individuals can simply be directed into care roles without consideration for aptitude or interest is both impractical and potentially harmful to care recipients.

International Staff: Essential Contributors

International workers have become essential to the sector's functioning. Susan notes in the BBC report that her overseas staff "want to work, they're reliable, they want to learn." These workers bring dedication, reliability, and often previous healthcare experience.

Jane Brightman from the Homecare Association emphasises that "these are not people taking jobs from British workers" but rather filling positions that would otherwise remain vacant. With the new salary threshold making recruitment more difficult, many providers fear they will be unable to maintain adequate staffing levels.

Engaging the Next Generation: A Long-Term Project

Creating a robust pipeline of domestic care workers must begin with repositioning care as an attractive career option for young people. Unlike retail, hospitality, or hairdressing—sectors that actively recruit school leavers—care remains nearly invisible in career guidance and education.

Skills for Care data shows that only 7% of the care workforce is under 25, compared to approximately 12% in the general workforce. This demographic gap indicates a failure to present care as a viable career path to young people.

Care positions often compete with retail jobs offering similar or better pay with less responsibility. Until care work offers competitive compensation and clear advancement opportunities, attracting young people to the sector will remain challenging.

Short-Sighted Policy Without Infrastructure

By making international recruitment more difficult and expensive without first establishing infrastructure to develop a domestic workforce, the government has created a dangerous gap. The BBC investigation quotes Jane Brightman's concerns that the policy could lead to "a really serious impact on people's care" and potentially leave vulnerable individuals without necessary support.

International recruits have been filling critical gaps—accounting for approximately 22% of new care workers in the last two years according to the Homecare Association. Restricting this pipeline before domestic alternatives are operational risks worsening the existing crisis.

The Fair Pay Imperative

The salary threshold discrepancy—£12.82 for international workers versus £12.21 National Minimum Wage for domestic workers—exemplifies the incoherent approach to workforce development. This creates an unsustainable situation where care providers must either:

  • Pay all staff the higher rate (creating financial pressure)
  • Pay international staff more than domestic staff (creating workforce tension)
  • Stop recruiting internationally (exacerbating staffing shortages)

We Are Care's model demonstrates that fair pay for all workers at £12.82 (£12.90) is both necessary and possible. This requires addressing the inefficiencies in the current system, particularly the excessive markups in the traditional agency model that drive up costs without benefiting frontline workers.

The Agency Model: Reform is Essential

The traditional agency model with 30-40% markups simply cannot accommodate fair wages while remaining affordable for providers. We Are Care has demonstrated that a more efficient approach with reasonable markups allows for the £12.82 minimum wage for all workers—domestic and international—while keeping services affordable.

This model balances fair worker compensation with sustainable provider costs, proving that the current inflated agency markup is an unnecessary burden on the system. Such structural reform must accompany any changes to recruitment policies.

A Comprehensive Solution Required

The care sector requires a comprehensive approach that addresses:

  • Immediate staffing needs: Maintaining accessible international recruitment while domestic strategies develop
  • Fair funding: Ensuring local authorities provide funding that reflects the true cost of care, including fair wages
  • Structural reform: Addressing inefficiencies in how care is commissioned, delivered, and staffed
  • Long-term workforce development: Creating educational pathways and career structures that make care an attractive profession

Conclusion

The government's attempt to pivot toward a domestic care workforce has merit in principle but is dangerously disconnected from reality in its current form. The experiences documented in the BBC report powerfully illustrate what the sector already knows—there is simply not enough local interest in care roles under current conditions.

We Are Care believes that a sustainable care system requires fair pay for all workers, regardless of origin, and recognises that achieving this requires addressing the inefficiencies in our current approach. By reforming the agency model, elevating the status of care work, and creating genuine career pathways for young people, we can build a workforce that meets the growing care needs of our population.

In the meantime, providers need continued access to international recruitment to maintain essential services. As Susan Asbury poignantly stated to the BBC, "We've got no choice but to recruit from overseas because we just can't get the staff." This reality must be acknowledged in policy decisions to avoid deepening an already critical care crisis.