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A qualitative study exploring factors that influence job retention among social care staff working in intellectual disability services.
Key messages
Policy implications
Gaps
Commentary
This study highlights the complex reasons why social care staff choose to remain in or leave roles, within intellectual disability services. While pay emerged as an important consideration, the quality of relationships with individuals receiving support was equally influential in shaping job satisfaction.
Participants described care work as meaningful when they felt able to build trusting relationships and provide consistent support. Where organisational pressures limited this relational aspect, motivation to stay diminished, even when staff valued the work itself.
Considering care equity, the findings point to how workforce instability can disproportionately affect people with intellectual disabilities. High turnover and staffing instability disrupts relationships that are central to continuity and quality of care, potentially leading to uneven experiences. At the same time, low pay and poor conditions reflect broader inequities faced by a workforce that is often undervalued.
Overall, the study suggests that improving retention requires attention to both material conditions and the relational nature of care. Supporting staff to remain in post is essential not only for workforce sustainability, but for delivering equitable and person-centred support to people with intellectual disabilities.
A study examining safety inequities experienced by people with learning disabilities in English health and social care, drawing on lived experiences from focus groups and patient feedback narratives.
A systematic review examining interventions designed to reduce inequities in dementia diagnosis and post-diagnostic care across multiple countries, focusing on individual, community and health system solutions.
A qualitative study examining how newly qualified social workers in England experience and respond to racism in practice, and how social work education prepares them to challenge racism in health and social care contexts.
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Analysis examining how social policies in England and Wales fail to address the needs of Autistic adults, focusing on barriers in health services and social care systems.
A study examining safety inequities experienced by people with learning disabilities in English health and social care, drawing on lived experiences from focus groups and patient feedback narratives.
A systematic review examining interventions designed to reduce inequities in dementia diagnosis and post-diagnostic care across multiple countries, focusing on individual, community and health system solutions.
A qualitative study examining how newly qualified social workers in England experience and respond to racism in practice, and how social work education prepares them to challenge racism in health and social care contexts.
A national study exploring practical solutions to reduce inequalities in dementia diagnosis and care across England, drawing on workshops with people with dementia, carers, professionals and third sector organisations.
A policy-focused review examining barriers to dementia care access for Black and minoritised communities in the UK, highlighting gaps between national policy ambitions and local service delivery.
