A Third of Adult Social Care Providers Considering Leaving the Market: Report

Care home resident Dot Hendy holds her daughter Louise's hand for the first time in many weeks after Louise successfully passed a COVID-19 test immediately before meeting her mother at the King Charles Court Care Home, Falmouth, England, on Nov. 18, 2020. (Hugh Hastings/Getty Images)

A third of adult social care providers are considering leaving the market amid financial pressures and staff shortages, the care home industry has warned.

According to a joint report from Care England, which represents care homes in England, and learning disability charity Hft (pdf), the adult social care industry is teetering on the “edge of a precipice.”

“With a third of adult social care providers having considered exiting the market in the past 12 months, including nearly half of smaller providers, this year’s research depicts a sector that is reaching the end of the line,” Kirsty Matthews, Hft CEO, and Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, wrote in a joint statement.

One older persons’ care provider told Care England that “the sector is now actually collapsing. It’s no longer a future threat, we are failing our vulnerable.”

It found that in 2022, 82 percent of adult social care providers were either in deficit or experienced a decrease in their surplus. Of these, 45 percent said that the decrease would turn into a deficit within two years.

COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

The report said that 40,000 care workers left the sector after a COVID-19 vaccine mandate in 2021.

The mandatory vaccination policy contributed to the rise in vacancy rates in the social care workforce.

At the time, the government said that there were to be “unquantified benefits” from the mandate, which it believed were “fairly substantial and long-lasting.”

Vacancy rates within the care sector rose from 5.9 percent in March 2021 to 10 percent in March 2022, according to data from Skills for Care. Currently, vacancy rates are at 21 percent on average, the report said.

Providers identified low pay as the key driver of high vacancy rates, which has only intensified with the increased cost of living.

The report said that the impact of high vacancy rates is not only “financial, but human” with providers closing services and turning away admissions because of staff shortages, contrary to the desire to discharge people from hospital care.

The report also said that a third of care homes across England have considered closing over the past year because of “financially crippling” running costs.

Utility costs increased by as much as 500 percent for some providers, though the true scale of the impact of energy price rises is yet to be fully understood. Many providers are still facing energy contract renewals, which could see bills rise further.

Alan Miller, who launched anti-restriction campaign Together, delivering petitions to Downing Street staff in London, on Jan. 17, 2022. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

Together Declaration

The Together Declaration, run by Alan Miller, was formed in 2021 in response to COVID-19 measures with a mission to “push back against the rapidly growing infringements on our rights and freedoms.”

At the time, Miller said care workers “had worked courageously throughout the period in the most difficult of circumstances” and described compulsory vaccination as “a huge loss and a shameful moment for Britain.”

“It is a scandal that lockdowns were imposed across society and our care homes were so appallingly treated,” Miller told The Epoch Times on Thursday by email.

“The vaccine mandate then saw over 40,000 staff lost unnecessarily. This government and the so-called opposition all bear the responsibility. ... We need to ensure such measures are never repeated and this mess gets sorted out. Together,” he added.

Last year, there were calls to reinstate and compensate care workers who did not want a COVID-19 vaccination.

Last October Conservative MP Danny Kruger responded in Parliament to a petition calling for a public inquiry into COVID-19 vaccine safety, which had received over 107,000 signatures.

“However, I am afraid that we still have many questions to ask ourselves, and even much to be ashamed of. I put on record that in hindsight I am particularly ashamed of my vote to dismiss care workers who did not want to receive the vaccine. I very much hope that the 40,000 care workers who lost their jobs can be reinstated, and indeed compensated,” Kruger said.

The Epoch Times contacted the Department of Health and Social Care for comment.