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Social care workforce
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Last modified date:13 February 2008
Over one million people work within local councils, private and voluntary sector to deliver social care services in England
Who makes up the workforce?
The social care workforce in England comprises over one million people working in people’s own homes, care homes, day care, hospitals, and in the wider community.
An estimated two thirds of the workforce, work for some 25,000 employers in the private and voluntary sectors. The remaining third work in the statutory sector, largely for 150 local councils with personal social services responsibilities.
The workforce is highly diverse, reaching across the private, voluntary and statutory sectors, dealing with many disadvantaged and dependent people in our society.
Increasingly the workforce is employed in sectors that are within the remit of other departments, particularly the youth justice field (Home Office) and housing (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister). In June 2003, policy in relation to the social care of children became the responsibility of the Department for Education and Skills, which is now the The Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Defining workforce
The boundary of the social care workforce is not easy to define, but broadly it encompasses those who work in public services that are provided, directly or commissioned, by local councils to discharge their personal social services (PSS) responsibilities.
This definition is breaking down, as the boundaries of the organisations that provide personal social services shift (care trusts, integrated mental health services, etc).
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