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 improve adult social care workforce retention.

Skills for Care data shows improvement in workforce retention in adult social care, the staff turnover rate decreased from 29.1% in 2022/23 to 24.8% in 2023/24 in the independent and local authority sectors. This may be partly due to the increase in international recruitment.

Whilst much of the responsibility for recruitment and retention rests with adult social care employers, we are committed to ensuring the adult social care workforce feels supported, recognised, and there are opportunities to develop and progress, all of which contribute to retention. On 10 October 2024, recognising the central role of our care workforce, we took a critical step, introducing the legislation that will establish the first ever Fair Pay Agreement for care professionals. More information is available at the following link:

https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3737

Fair Pay Agreements will work to empower workers, employers, and others in partnership to negotiate pay and terms and conditions in a regulated and responsible manner and will help to address the recruitment and retention crisis in the sector, in turn supporting the delivery of high-quality care.