We’ve Spent Years Talking About Recruitment. It’s Time We Talked About Retention.
The latest State of the Adult Social Care Workforce report from Skills for Care contains some genuinely positive news for the sector. Vacancy rates have fallen, workforce numbers have grown, and turnover has improved compared to previous years.
But one statistic stayed with me.
Around 320,000 people left their roles during the year.
For years, we’ve focused on how to bring more people into adult social care. The latest workforce data suggests we should be spending just as much time asking ourselves a different question:
How do we keep good people once they’re here?
One of the most striking findings concerns pay. While increases in the National Living Wage have helped raise pay across the sector, the gap between new starters and experienced care workers has narrowed significantly. Experienced staff are often earning only marginally more than colleagues joining the profession.
That’s worth reflecting on.
Experience matters. It brings confidence, practical wisdom, stronger relationships with people drawing on care and support, and the ability to help newer colleagues develop. If we don’t recognise and value that experience, we risk losing some of the people our sector can least afford to lose.
The report also highlights that staff are most likely to leave during their first year. That’s a crucial period when people decide whether social care is simply a job or a career.
Which brings me to what I believe is one of the most overlooked retention tools in the sector: effective supervision.
Too often, supervision is seen as a compliance task. Done well, it’s much more than that. It’s where people feel heard, supported, challenged, and developed. It’s where managers build relationships, identify potential and spot concerns before they become reasons for someone to leave.
Ultimately, good supervision sends a powerful message:
You matter.
Recruitment remains important. But if we want a sustainable workforce, retention needs to become an equal priority.
Because in a sector built on relationships, continuity and trust, keeping great people may be the most important workforce strategy we have.
