An evidence review examining innovations to support attraction, recruitment and retention of social care staff in the UK, alongside factors influencing staff turnover.
Key messages
Policy implications
Gaps
Commentary
This rapid review highlights the range of approaches that have been used to attract and retain social care workers in the UK. Initiatives such as apprenticeships, accelerated learning routes and national campaigns reflect ongoing attempts to stabilise a workforce facing high turnover.
The findings also show how limited the evidence base remains. While many innovations appear promising, few have been robustly evaluated, making it difficult to assess which approaches genuinely improve retention over time. The predominance of pre-pandemic studies could arguably limit their relevance to current workforce pressures.
Thinking about equitable social care, the review raises questions about who benefits from workforce innovations. Access to training, apprenticeships and progression opportunities may vary by role, region and personal circumstances, potentially reinforcing existing inequities within the workforce. Where initiatives focus on entry rather than conditions, they may do little to address the factors that drive turnover among lower-paid or marginalised workers.
Overall, the review suggests that improving workforce sustainability requires more than isolated innovations. Building equitable and effective recruitment and retention strategies depends on better evidence, attention to working conditions and a clearer understanding of how initiatives affect different groups within the social care workforce.
A Lancet Commission analysis examining workforce shortages, recruitment and retention challenges, and the need for long-term workforce planning across the UK health and social care system.
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Policy implications
Gaps
Commentary
This paper examines the structural drivers of workforce shortages across the UK health and social care system. It highlights how long-standing issues in workforce planning have left services vulnerable to rising demand and demographic change. Recruitment and retention challenges, combined with workforce ageing and increasing service pressures, contribute to persistent staffing gaps.
A key theme is the difference between workforce planning in the NHS and social care. While the NHS has national workforce planning mechanisms, social care remains more fragmented, with workforce planning largely shaped by local authority budgets and provider capacity. This creates variation in staffing stability and service provision across the system.
Financial pressures also influence working conditions and career opportunities. Lower pay and fewer structured progression pathways in social care contribute to high turnover and recruitment difficulties, reinforcing the cycle of workforce shortages.
In terms of care inequities, the paper highlights how workforce shortages can translate into uneven access to services. Areas with greater financial pressures or fewer available staff may experience more service disruptions and reduced continuity of care. At the same time, inequities within the workforce (particularly around pay and conditions between health and social care) reflect broader financial imbalances across the system. These dynamics demonstrate how funding structures influence both workforce stability and the distribution of care.
Overall, the report argues that sustainable workforce planning requires coordinated policy across health and social care. Without long-term investment and strategic planning, workforce shortages will continue to affect service availability and contribute to financial and structural inequities in care provision.
A study examining perceptions of safe staffing, mental wellbeing and intentions to leave the profession among UK social workers.
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Key messages
Policy implications
Gaps
Commentary
This study highlights the relationship between perceived staffing adequacy, wellbeing and retention among social workers. Many participants described feeling unable to meet the needs of people they support due to insufficient staffing, alongside growing administrative demands.
The findings show how workload pressures translate into sickness absence and intentions to leave, particularly among mid-career workers. Dependence on agency staff was described as both a symptom and a driver of instability, adding complexity to team functioning and continuity.
From a care equity point of view, the study illustrates how workforce shortages affect both workers and service users. Where staffing levels are inadequate, social workers have less capacity to provide timely and consistent support, increasing the risk of uneven access and outcomes for people drawing on care and support. At the same time, burnout and poor wellbeing disproportionately affect those in high-pressure roles.
Overall, the paper highlights that safe staffing is not only a workforce issue but a care quality issue. Improving staffing levels and working conditions is essential to sustaining an equitable social care system that supports both practitioners and the people they serve.
