Agenda item

To receive and endorse the following report of a review carried out by a Scrutiny Commission:

Adult Social Care Workforce Planning: Looking to the future (Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission)

Councillor March, Vice-Chair of the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission, presented a report of the review “Adult Social Care Workforce Planning: Looking to the Future”, that she had led.

Councillor March stated her appreciation of the value of the adult social care workforce and explained that the report had shown that by 2035 there would be a need to employ 1.5 times more staff than currently.  The main recommendations of the review were that the Council should continue to pay workers at least the Living Wage, with contractors encouraged to do the same, and that the implementation of an ethical care charter should be expedited.

The Committee welcomed the report and congratulated those involved on the work that had been done. 

Challenges faced by the sector were recognised and it was questioned how these would be addressed.  For example, as many care workers were not British, what would be the impact of leaving the European Union?  Retention and shortages of staff also were issues, but were employers willing to invest in training and development for staff? 

Councillor March advised that nationally approximately 12% of the adult social care workforce were non-British nationals, but in Leicester this figure was nearer 4%.  With regard to training and development, anecdotal evidence suggested that there was a hierarchy due to a lack of parity of esteem between health and social care, with the former being more highly valued than the latter.  It therefore was hoped that establishing proper pathways for development would help those employed in adult social care feel more valued.

Members suggested that the current crisis arising from the Covid-19 pandemic provided a chance to develop more quality opportunities, such as apprenticeships, as recommended in the report.  It also was important that managers were appropriately qualified, which would help raise the profile of the sector and increase confidence in all those working in it.

In response to an enquiry from Councillors about how this authority could promote quality of service provision, Councillor March explained that a substantial quality assessment framework was in place, which ensured that the best possible quality service was received.

Councillor March noted that another concern was that a large number of people working in the sector were over 50 years old, so were beginning to approach retirement age.  A lot of young people did not remain working in the sector very long and often did not return once they left it.  It was felt that this was at least in part due to the imbalance of esteem between the health and social care sectors.  This was a national issue, but it was hoped that the recommendations in the report would help address the situation locally.

The Committee stressed the need to recognise the importance of care workers during the current Covid-19 pandemic.  One way of doing this would be to ensure that they received a full living wage, which highlighted the difference between the fees paid by those receiving the services and the lower wages received by those providing the care.  Opportunities should be taken to restore some balance, such as through creating a carers co-operative, where everyone would receive a share of the profits.

Councillor March reminded Members that a previously stated intention was to consider the creation of a co-operative of this nature, to create greater engagement of workers with companies providing the care.  The report of the review also considered other options, such as employee buy-outs of care provision companies, but pursual of these it was not in the remit of this review, or the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission’s terms of reference.

The City Mayor welcomed the report, expressing his gratitude for the work done.  It was overdue that attention was given to the care sector and he looked forward to an early discussion with Councillor March on how the report’s recommendations could be taken forward.

AGREED:

1)    That the Strategic Director Social Care and Education be asked to pass on to the city’s care workers the thanks of this Committee for the high quality services and support provided, especially during the current crisis arising from the Covid-19 pandemic;

2)    That this Committee endorses the recommendations contained in the report of the review “Adult Social Care Workforce Planning: Looking to the Future”; and

3)    That the Strategic Director Social Care and Education be asked to present a report to this Committee at an appropriate time on how the recommendations of the report referred to in 2) above will be taken forward and the proposed timetable for this.