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Wellbeing and staff turnover in the adult social care workforce

This study examines social workers’ perceptions of safe staffing levels and correlate these perceptions with standardised measurements of well-being in the UK

Key Stats: 

  • Almost two thirds of social workers stated that their service did not operate with a ‘staff-to-service ratio’. 
  • over 75% staff who have taken between 11 to 20 sick days from work are respondents who stated they do not work in a safe ‘staff-to-service’ ratio work environment. 

Key Messages 

  • England has the highest proportion of staff working in unsafe staff-to-service ratios, followed by Northern Ireland. 
  • Staff in unsafe conditions are twice as likely to leave their organisation compared to those in safer environments. 
  • Workload pressures are increasing, with insufficient staffing to meet care needs, leading to unsafe working conditions. 
  • Staff report compromised practice, poor decision-making, and inability to follow procedures due to being overstretched. 
  • There is no capacity to cover absences or annual leave, resulting in frequent overtime. 
  • Staff are forced to prioritise administrative tasks over direct care, reducing time with those they support. 
  • Wellbeing is impacted: staff feel burned out, less resilient, and overwhelmed by unmanageable caseloads. 
  • Post-COVID pressures persist, with unreasonable demands from management and lack of understanding of burnout. Staff feel ignored by managers, with delayed responses and insufficient support from senior leadership. 
  • High turnover and intentions to leave the profession are driven by daily pressures and feeling unheard. 

Commentary 

This paper highlights the increasing pressures faced by the social care workforce due to limited capacity and insufficient administrative support. Staff report burnout from covering understaffed shifts, receiving low pay, and being unable to take annual leave without burdening their colleagues. These conditions compromise staff wellbeing and restrict their ability to move beyond crisis management, limiting opportunities for training, skill development, and career progression. While staff remain committed to meeting the needs of those who draw on care and support, the current staff-to-service ratios are unsustainable. Many report having less time to provide personalised care, with the shortfall directly impacting people who are drawing on services. This is recognised as a national issue, not just an organisational one, with widespread capacity challenges across the sector. 

This article calls for urgent action to address workforce capacity, improve training, and support newly qualified social workers, who experience particularly high turnover rates. Current practice falls short of BASW’s guidance, which recommends 80% of time spent engaging with service users and 20% on administration. Limitations of the study include a homogeneous sample in regards to ethnicity and an overrepresentation of respondents from Northern Ireland. Additionally, authors note that findings may not be representative of all social workers, as those who responded to open-ended questions likely held strong views on the issues discussed. 

Digital skills of Northern Ireland social care workforce

A focus on understanding the digital skills and technology confidence in the social care workforce

Key Statistics: 

  • 13% of social care staff stated that they are unable to solve a problem with a device or digital service using online help if they were asked to do this 
  • 9% of staff stated they could not check if information they found online is accurate 
  • 7.1% of staff stated they would not be able to buy and install apps on a device if they were asked to 
  • The average confidence score to use technology, which includes desktop computers, laptops, smartphones, and tablets across different job groups show that: Social care workers have a confidence score of 3.84 out of 4; Social workers have a confidence score of 3.35 out of 4; Social work students have a confidence score of 3.70 out of 4. The overall score for all groups is 3.70 out of 4. 
  • A total of 14% of respondents aged over 65 shared that they were not confident at all in the use of some technologies at work 

Key Messages 

  • Digital skills are reported to decline with age, and confidence in using technology is closely linked to self-reported skill levels 
  • E-learning is widely valued by social care staff for its flexibility, time efficiency, and peer support, though most use it at home rather than at work due to time constraints and limited managerial support. 
  • Face-to-face learning is still preferred, but many staff are already engaging in informal digital learning through websites and mobile apps, indicating a shift toward blended approaches. 
  • A small group (9.9%) are resistant to e-learning, often due to minimal digital skills, and lack of confidence. Staff are in need of more tailored support to improve their digital skills. 

Commentary 

Particular focus should be given to members of the workforce within all job roles who indicated that they were only slightly confident or not confident at all in the use of technology. The authors tell us that although the majority of responses are positive, it is clear that there is a proportion of the workforce who would benefit from increased training in the use of technology. This is critical to ensure that every member of the workforce is able to benefit from the potential of digital learning and development and that a digital divide is not created. These findings suggest that offering training to increase digital skills and technology confidence, in addition to raising awareness of the benefits of the use of technology for learning and development, may increase the overall engagement with digital learning and development solutions.