Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what are the current vacancy rates for care workers in care homes in England and Wales; and whether these rates have changed in the last five years.

The policy for health and adult social care is devolved across the United Kingdom. The Department is responsible for adult social care in England, and therefore only captures information on vacancy rates for England. The following table shows estimates of the vacancy rates for the adult social care workforce, including the independent and local authority sectors, from 2019/20 to 2023/24:

Source: Skills for Care using the Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set.

It is important to note that vacancies include roles advertised by independent providers and therefore reflect market conditions. Vacancies include both posts that are vacant in the short term, due to recent or anticipated staff turnover, and posts created by employers who want to expand and grow their businesses, rather than only roles needed to meet statutory entitlements. Therefore, vacancy rates are likely not the best measure of capacity, or lack of capacity.