LABoUR SHORTAGE IN CARE SECTOR made worse by ZERO HOUR CONTRACTS

By Pravin Jeyaraj

Staff on zero hours contracts in the care sector were significantly more likely to leave their jobs, compared to staff with more contracted hours, according to research from Skills for Care.

In the report, "The State of the the Adult Social Care Sector and Workfore 2021", the charity found that the turnover rate for staff on zero hours contracts was 32.1%, compared to a turnover rate of 21.3% for full-time workers (more than 35 hours).

Care worker turnover rate by contracted hours
Source: Adult Social Care Workforce Dataset - unweighted data between March 2020 and March 2021

For those specifically working for residential care providers, the difference was even more stark, compared to domiciliary care workers. The turnover rate for zero hours workers was 37.5%, compared to 23.5% for those not on zero hours contracts.

Care worker turnover rate by zero hours contract status
Source: Adult Social Care Workforce Dataset - unweighted data between March 2020 and March 2021

Around 410,000 people have left the social care sector as a whole, a turnover rate of 28.5%. But for registered nurses in the sector, the turnover rate stands at 38.2%, compared to 8.8% for nurses in the NHS.