Skills for care has published its annual report on the state of the adult social care workforce.
The report is based on Skills for Care's rich Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set (ASC-WDS), which has data on more than 765,000 people in over 20,000 locations.
Key findings:
- The report estimates that the adult social care sector had 1.59 million filled posts in 2025/26, an increase of approximately 22,000 (1.4%) compared with the previous year. However, this represented less than half the previous year's growth. Meanwhile, the vacancy rate fell from its peak of 10.4% in 2021/22 to 6.2% in 2025/26.
- The improvement in vacancies is encouraging, but the slowdown in workforce expansion raises questions about the sector's ability to meet future demand.
- Employers had significantly better retention when combining competitive local pay, guaranteed hours, training, relevant qualifications and full-time work, with turnover falling from 34.3% among care workers with none of these factors to 15.3% among those with all five.
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Stable, experienced leadership supports retention, with care worker turnover falling from 28.3% to 20.6% as registered manager experience increases.
- The number of internationally recruited direct care workers fell from approximately 50,000 in 2024/25 to 30,000 in 2025/26, a decline of 40%. Skills for Care attributes this partly to the closure of the Health and Care Worker visa route to new overseas care worker applicants in July 2025.
- The proportion of posts filled by British workers has declined from 85% in 2020/21 to 67% in 2025/26, equivalent to a reduction of approximately 130,000 posts filled by British nationals highlighting the challenges facing providers as immigration restrictions reduce access to overseas recruitment.
- The median hourly pay for care workers and support workers in the independent sector was £12.60 in March 2026, just 39p above the then National Living Wage. Despite a 5% nominal annual pay increase, real-terms growth was only 1.6%.
- Workers with five or more years' experience earned, on average, just 12p more per hour than those with less than one year's experience. Furthermore, approximately 655,000 independent sector posts were paid below the incoming April 2026 National Living Wage of £12.71.
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Young people remain underrepresented, making up just 7% of the workforce compared with 12% of England’s economically-active population. Turnover among under-25s is 35.5% - the highest of any age group.
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Delegated healthcare is a major part of social care delivery, with non-nursing staff carrying out these activities in 59% of responding CQC-regulated establishments and an estimated 46% of direct care workers doing them, strengthening the case for social care to be built explicitly into neighbourhood health, clinical capacity, funding and workforce planning.
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The Care Workforce Pathway is already being used by 26% of responding employers, mainly to identify skills gaps and development opportunities, providing a strong platform for implementing workforce development and career progression alongside future reforms.
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Qualification levels remain low, with only 37% of care workers and support workers qualified at Level 2 or above, down from 48% in 2018/19.
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One in four independent sector employers contribute more than the minimum 3% to their care workers' pensions and one in four pay care workers more than Statutory Sick Pay.
- The report identifies relationships between workforce characteristics and Care Quality Commission (CQC) assessment ratings. Care homes with higher staffing ratios generally achieved better ratings, while establishments with more experienced registered managers were also more likely to receive higher scores.
- Skills for Care projects that England could require an additional 410,000 adult social care posts by 2040, representing a 24% increase on current levels if workforce demand rises proportionately with the population aged 65 and over.
The full report can be found here.
The current figures demonstrate the importance of investment in the care workforce - in terms of pay, terms and conditions, value and status - if providers are to recruit and retain the vital support millions of disabled people, families and carers rely on every year.
While the forthcoming Fair Pay Agreement for Adult Social Care is a step towards this, along with our Care Provider Alliance (CPA) colleagues, VODG urges the Government to utilise the Adult Social Care Workforce Strategy coordinated by Skills for Care, as the basis of turning the Secretary of State's commitment to a strong care workforce, into reality.