The Home Care Crisis

At a time of rising demand for homecare, more care workers than ever are leaving and employers are reporting a 75% reduction in applications for jobs. Poor pay, terms and conditions of employment are a key factor.

Councils report being deluged with requests for help from older and disabled people in the community, which they are unable to address, and NHS trusts are struggling to discharge people from hospital due to lack of capacity in social care and community services. This makes it difficult to reduce waiting lists as swiftly as required, regardless of how much extra funding is poured into the NHS.