Columnist

Why it is time to give care work a makeover

Social care needs a rebrand.

At present, there are more than 130,000 job vacancies for adult social care in the UK. 

Add child social care into the mix, and that figure spirals to more than 200,000. 

This would spell worry for any Westminster regime, not least one responsible for governing a nation where two in every five people are now aged 65 and over. 

The UK’s ageing population and chronic shortage of care workers have created a perfect storm, which has left the sector at breaking point.

While there are several reasons for this, not least low pay and sometimes unsociable working hours, one of the reasons less spoken about is perception.

Yes, it’s a pink-collar job, and yes, there are jobs out there which will earn more money.

But there aren’t many that will leave you feeling as satisfied as a career in care. If any. 

That is why care, and our impressions of it as a career choice, are in dire need of some good PR, particularly in terms of how we perceive, value and treat those working in our care homes. 

The value of supporting and enabling people has been a successful PR process for the health sector over recent years, no more so than during lockdown, when healthcare staff were fully appreciated for the work they did. 

However, there has yet to be the same deliberate, agenda-driven media exposure of the care sector using the same force and wanting the same outcome, besides The Mirror’s ‘Fair Care for All’ campaign. 

This has had a particularly large impact on a generation of people of whom social media has greater influence than past generations. 

By improving how care roles look and are perceived, particularly online, it would significantly improve the numbers of young people considering entering the workforce. 

Not only that, but it would also have huge economic implications. 

After all, if we have no care workers, who is going to look after your loved ones should they ever require daily care and assistance? 

The ramifications of failing to deal with the crisis now are unthinkable. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying a PR campaign alone will be a silver bullet to fix everything. Far from it. 

We know the greatest barriers are low pay and lack of progression, and there’s no hiding from that.

But by educating and informing young people about the range of work and different care roles on offer, we can at least provide information that better reflects the industry and promotes the fantastic opportunities it provides.

If we are to encourage more people to work in the sector, we need to give the industry a makeover, and we all have a part to play in this, by changing how we think and talk about the sector. 

Only then can we start to change perceptions and move forward. 

Dr Angela Brown is chief executive of Training in Care

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