The government is being urged to make adult social care central to efforts to reduce youth unemployment, arguing that nearly one million young people ‘not in education, employment or training’ (NEET) could help address the sector's long-term workforce challenge.
In a new policy paper, Towards a National Workforce Settlement, the Care Association Alliance (CAA) has set out how the government's 'youth guarantee' programme could connect young people with careers in care and improve retention among younger recruits.
It comes as the latest Skills for Care data shows under-25s account for just 7 per cent of the adult social care workforce, compared to a 12 per cent average across other sectors, while a recent government review warned the number of NEETs could reach 1.25m within five years.
Skills for Care are also forecasting the sector will need an extra 410,000 posts by 2040.
CAA co-chair Melanie Weatherley said the care sector offered "one of the most obvious answers" to both challenges.
"Every good care relationship runs in both directions. An older person gives a young worker purpose, and a young worker gives an older person care," she said.
"We have close to a million young people the labour market has not found a place for, and a sector that cannot fill its posts. Those are two halves of the same problem."
Pathway into care
The CAA is urging ministers to consider adopting its existing 'pathway into care' programme as the sector's route within the ‘youth guarantee’, as it said it provides structured supervision, preparation for the realities of care work and a clear route from placement into employment.
The organisation is also calling for investment in Level 4 qualifications, restoration of the workforce qualification fund, a national competency record and expanded prescribing powers for social care nurses to improve retention rates, which Skills for Care reports a data shows is at 35.5 per cent among under-25s.
CAA senior policy adviser Damian Green said: "This practical set of proposals hits two targets at once. It reduces pressure on the care sector, which needs new workers and to keep more of its existing ones, and it helps young people into a rewarding career."
