15th October 2025
Responding to Skills for Care’s annual State of the Adult Social Care Sector and Workforce in England report for 2025, Rachael Dodgson, Chief Executive of Dimensions, said:
“The drop in social care vacancies shown in Skills for Care’s annual report is encouraging – and surprising.
The near-halving in workers recruited from overseas is anticipated, given the tightening of immigration rules. The fact this coincides with a 2.6% decline in workers of British nationality is concerning. The government needs to make careers in care and support more attractive to all.
Pay is central. At Dimensions, we pay frontline workers at a rate above the National Living Wage and the Real Living Wage wherever we can.
We do this to improve recruitment and retention, so the people we support have continuity of support by someone they know. But paying more is difficult for a not-for-profit provider constrained by limited local government funding.
While we welcome the Fair Pay Agreement, it will not take effect until 2028. Social care can’t wait that long.
The government has pledged £500 million to fund this agreement in the first instance. Spread across 1.5 million care workers, £500 million is only approximately 20 pence more per hour, according to the Health Foundation.
Clearly, this £500 million falls far short of what is required to recruit and retain sufficient care and support workers. We will keep doing all we can as a provider, but government action is long overdue.”