Staff recruitment


of the auto-enrolment pension as care homes tend to employ a higher proportion of staff earning minimum wage, putting further pressure upon the already tight margins.


Difficulty attracting qualified and suitable staff Throughout the care industry, difficulty in attracting qualified and suitable staff is a reoccurring issue. As above, pay is a huge contributor to this issue. However, there is also a distinct lack of skilled care qualified nurses within the care sector. That has been driven by falling UK student nursing places, exacerbated by the lack of government spending and replacing student bursaries with student loans. Furthermore, policies on immigration


and compliance issues – such as , for example, a requirement by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for an increased staff-patient ratio - places further pressure on care homes to ensure there are sufficient staff in place and if this cannot be achieved, means there is increased reliance on expensive agency staff. There is also a shortage of experienced


care home managers. That means care homes can often go months or even years without a registered manager. Due to this shortage, experienced care home managers are attracting increasingly high salaries, placing an additional financial burden on a care home’s already tight budget and margins. Combined with a drop in standards


while a care home is without a manager, and the consequent regulatory and reputational issues arising from that, it is clear to see how a lack of qualified and suitable staff within the care industry is an expensive and challenging problem to navigate. The impact of Brexit on staffing levels


within care homes is also a factor to be considered. In a report prepared by the CQC, it was estimated in 2015/2016 that seven per cent of the adult social care workforce was made up of non-British EU workers, which equates to around 90,000 jobs. Although the government has made


proposals to how it intends to continue to attract overseas workers - for


example, cutting the general minimum salary requirement - there are concerns the proposals fail to go far enough as these workers are crucial to the viability and sustainability of the care industry, which is already in disarray.


Need for proper vetting and selection process Due to the nature of working in a care home, employees will come into contact with the elderly and vulnerable adults. Under Regulation 19 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, employers must employ ‘fit and proper’ staff who are able to provide care and treatment appropriate to their role and to enable them to provide the regulated activity. Employing unfit people, or continuing


to allow unfit people to stay in a role, may lead the CQC to question the fitness of a provider and lead to regulatory action. Therefore, when recruiting new


employees to a care home, the person responsible for recruitment needs to undertake a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check on any prospective employee. All employees working within a care home will automatically need an


The government needs to come up with an effective solution or viable plan to mitigate the number of care home insolvencies or closures likely to occur


22


enhanced DBS Check. Although this is clearly very important,


this requirement adds further pressure to care homes when recruiting staff as the requirement for a DBS check can be time-consuming and can slow down the recruitment process. The need for these checks and balances may also deter individuals from applying for roles within the care industry when there are better paid roles available without having to go through this process.


Staff retention and how to improve this According to a report by the Care Association Alliance, the care sector has the highest staff turnover rate of all sectors in the UK, with one in three workers leaving the sector every year. The Communities and Local Government Committee found 48 per cent of care workers leave within a year of starting. Recruiting and retaining staff in a


sector where the average weekly wage is £200 less than the UK all-jobs average is very challenging, especially when the roles are often very tiring, stressful and involve unsocial and long working hours. Taking into account the salaries offered in the care industry, individuals are clearly not seeing the reward for the responsibility of the role reflected in the money they are paid. Often people are willing to work for


lower salaries whilst they gain qualifications and progress their career. However, it has been noted there are very few opportunities for training and


www.thecarehomeenvironment.com• August 2020


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