In recent news, the Department of Health has stated that women might be forced to quit their jobs to look after ill or ageing relatives.
Why? Because carers from the European Union (EU) due to be cut short following Brexit.To put this into context, they believe that there could be 28,000 fewer people working in the care sector in England in the next five years after leaving the EU.
A growing issue?
This shocking report issued by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), stated: “Considering rising life expectancy, population structural changes (significant increases in those aged 85 and over) as well as increases in the number of people living with one or more long-term conditions, there are significant demand implications for the health and social care workforce”. “Unless we ensure such demand is met, there is a wider risk to labour market participation more generally, especially when considering increasing social care needs. If we fail to meet social care needs adequately we are likely to see a decrease in labour market participation levels, especially among women, as greater numbers undertake informal care.”
The care worker shortage is likely to impact more women than men. This is due to 58% of the sector being occupied by the female sex.There are quite a lot of migrants that fill the UK’s need for care workers. Currently, 7% of the UK’s social care workforce and 5.5% of nurses and midwives are European Economic Area (EEA) staff.However, once Brexit starts to really kick-in, this growing need for carers might not be able to be fulfilled. The reason is due to a difference in migration laws.
This will force a lot of people to quit their normal jobs so they can look after their elderly loved ones.
What does this mean for the care sector?
For the future, the shortage which is set to grow following Brexit is a topic that needs to be addressed.
In May 2018, the previous health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said that a dedicated health and social visa is “something I should probably raise with the new home secretary."
As employers, the key to filling your particular need for more carers is via the delivery of your recruitment advert.
In the past, jobs in the care sector haven’t always received the credit or positive press they truly deserve.Obviously this has played its part in putting off UK citizens from applying to current vacancies.
(Although you can read one positive story about a young carer here.)
There’s not a great deal we can do about the government making special arrangements with the European Union to give EEA staff special visas to work on these shores.
Although, you can make some other positive steps to raise the profile of your job adverts.
This includes:
- Using a common job title and location which people search for.
- Making it relevant with the right industry-related keywords.
- Finding the right job boards to use in the care sector.
- Using social media to advertise for free.
- Incentivising job referrals to current staff and your mailing list.
- Tracking your results so you can improve next time.
For more guidance on how to do this, get in touch with our expert team at Temps4Care today.
