Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the number of social care workers.

We are investing at least £250 million over the next two years on workforce reforms, a key objective of which is to improve adult social care workforce retention and turnover rates.

In July 2023, we announced the £570 million Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund (MSIF) - Workforce Fund to support increased adult social care workforce capacity, improve market sustainability, and enable local authorities to make tangible improvements to adult social care services, with a particular focus on workforce pay. Local authorities can choose to use this funding to increase adult social care workforce and improve retention.

We are also supporting recruitment and retention by delivering our ongoing National Recruitment Campaign; working with the Department of Work and Pensions to promote adult social care careers to jobseekers; and funding sector partners to provide support to employers and commissioners through training and guidance and supporting international recruitment.