New guidance and resources launched for social and childcare employers

Urban Foresight has developed new guidance and a suite of resources to support employers in the social care and childcare sectors.  

The Welsh care sector faces chronic shortages in its workforce. Long term challenges in recruitment and retention have become more urgent. There are currently not enough people willing to work in social care and childcare roles.  

As experts in the health care sector, Urban Foresight conducted a programme of research into the workforce challenges faced by the industry. We produced a series of comprehensive reports for Social Care Wales which explored the issue from different perspectives. 

Our research highlighted that many of the challenges faced by social care and childcare employers in Wales are largely like challenges faced by the sector in other parts of the world.   Low pay, low status, the responsibilities involved in care roles, and long hours all deter people from pursuing a career in care.  

Our research also revealed that Wales faces some more unique challenges. Recruiting Welsh speakers is particularly difficult. Drivers needed for home care were also difficult to attract for places with a large rural population.  More broadly, issues such as Brexit, COVID-19 and the cost-of-living crisis have all had an impact on staff recruitment and retention.  

Using these insights, we created new guidance and a suite of resources to provide care employers with practical steps to address this crisis.   

An attraction, recruitment and retention guide – A document packed with guidance and actionable strategies, from how to attract people to the sector, to ensuring staff feel valued.   

A users personas toolkit – The toolkit helps social care employers understand the typical profile of jobseekers. It also provides suggestions about how to target these different personas and consider people’s motivations and personal circumstances.   

Dr Emma Taylor-Collins, Research Manager at Social Care Wales commented, ‘Our work with Urban Foresight was important because it’s helped us to understand the issues around social care, early years and childcare workforce recruitment challenges.  

We now know more about the barriers that can make social care a less attractive career option, the challenges employers and applicants face during the recruitment process, and what WeCare Wales can do as a positive force for the sector.  

We’re already putting the recommendations into practice and sharing the findings amongst our partners to help inform decision making about attracting, recruiting and retaining a skilled workforce. We know this is vital to ensuring people in Wales can access the care and support they need.’ 

To find out more about this project, or to discuss how we can help your organisation, please contact Principal Consultant, Dr Maddy Thompson.  Maddy has also written a blog about her work with Social Care Wales for their Insight Collective website.