Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of staff turnover on the quality of care in retirement homes.

The Department continues to monitor adult social care (ASC) workforce capacity, bringing together national data sets from Skills for Care’s monthly tracking data, the Capacity Tracker tool which collates data from all ASC providers regulated by the Care Quality Commission and intelligence from key sector partners.

With high rates of turnover and recruitment challenges, the ASC sector faces significant workforce challenges. In April 2025, we expanded the Care Workforce Pathway, the first ever universal career structure for the ASC workforce in England, and we are introducing the first ever Fair Pay Agreement to the ASC sector so that care professionals are recognised and rewarded for the important work that they do. This will help to address the recruitment and retention crisis in the sector; in turn supporting the delivery of high-quality care. We have also launched an independent commission into social care as part of first steps towards a National Care Service.