Scottish Government

SCOTLAND'S SOCIAL CARE LABOUR MARKET

SECTION 4 THE PRIVATE AND VOLUNTARY SECTORS

33. The following section gives an analysis of the independent sector. Pre-inspection returns provide a source of anonymised data on the social care workforce regulated by the Care Commission covering local authority, private and voluntary sector organisations ⁹. Although this is a very comprehensive dataset, covering approximately 5,868 organisational units and 70,906 staff, it should be noted that not all Pre-inspection returns were fully covered in the sample of PIR's inputted and so this will not represent all staff in the sector. Care Commission data can however be used to give a new source of the profile of employment in the private and voluntary sectors although not all of local authority employment is covered by its remit. Some fields of information in the collection will also carry a lower sample size due to inconsistency in the extent that all data fields were completed in the pre-inspection returns. Percentage figures are therefore likely to be more authoritative than actual numbers.

Figure 4.1
Total Employment and Num of Units Inspected by Type of Service

Note: These figures only cover the services that were included in the data collation sample

34. Dissecting the data on staffing into type of service, the highest percentage of employees in the sample fall into Care Homes for Adults (50%) and Early Education and Childcare (34%). Comparing this to the number of organisational units however, Early Education and Childcare has the most (63.6%) followed by Care Homes for Adults (23.4%). This demonstrates that the average number of employees in each organisational unit for Early Education and Childcare is much smaller (6.46) compared to the average number of employees in each Care Home for Adults (25.69). The average number of employees throughout all types of services is 12.2 which indicates that the organisational units that the Care Commission inspects can be mostly categorised as Tiny (1-10) or Small (11-49). ¹⁰ This may have implications for training capacity as smaller organisations are unlikely to have the same specialist in-house resources.

Figure 4.2
Total Employment and Number of Units Inspected by Sector

Note: These figures only cover the services that were included in the data collation sample.

35. When analysing the dataset by sector, 44.5% of employees were recorded under private, 19.1% under voluntary and 27.7% under local authority. Local authority employment was however not fully captured by this dataset as fieldwork staff are not regulated by the Care Commission and therefore Local Authority annual census statistics give a more comprehensive coverage. Appendix (iii) includes maps that help display how greatly the composition of service provision varies across local authorities. For example, the proportion of social care employment regulated by the Care Commission that falls in the private sector varies from 5.1% in the Shetland Islands and 61.69% in Dumfries and Galloway. The highest percentage employment in the voluntary sector is found in the Shetland Islands (46.85%) and the lowest in the Orkney Islands (1.06%). The local authority components of the data set represented 10.82% in East Dunbartonshire, and 91% in Orkney. See Appendix (iii) for a breakdown of this information by local authority.

36. Compared to the average of 12.1 employees recorded per organisation, the private sector has 22.1, the voluntary sector 9.3 and local authority units, 9.8. The overall PIR dataset composed of 87% females and 11% males (with no information on gender being given in the residual cases). The private sector seems to have a slightly lower percentage of men in the sector and the voluntary sector slightly higher on average however this assumes that the differing rates of percentage missing responses in each sector does not affect this.

37. The age composition of the sample of staff available in the private and voluntary and public sectors is compared in figure 4.3. It is evident that the age profile for the private sector follows a different pattern than that for the voluntary sector and public sector. The private sector sees a dip in numbers in the mid-twenties that may be explained by women leaving employment to care for children. The voluntary sector however does not seem to show the same trend - employment is much more symmetric around the middle ages indicating that there is a tendency to be employed in the sector in the thirties and forties. As this data source is a snapshot of current staff over the inspection period it is not possible to comment however whether these age profiles are transitory or remain over time and represent divergent employee entry/exit age trends between sectors or whether they are due to specific retirement bouts in previous decades. The data does seem to give evidence to suggest that younger employees are more likely to enter the private sector than the voluntary or public sectors.

Figure 4.3
Age Composition Comparison for private and voluntary sectors

Source: Pre-Inspection Returns, Sample Sizes: private sector 26,620, voluntary sector 11,786, public sector 15,675.

In terms of the average contracted hours per employee there does not seem to be much difference between the private, voluntary and overall sector which stands at 28 hours for females and 32 hours for males. Actual hours may however exceed contracted hours recorded in pre-inspection returns. The data seems to indicate that a large proportion (71%) of employees have contracted hours below 37 hours. Again this varies little between the private, voluntary and local authority components of the dataset.

SECTION 5 LOCAL AUTHORITY EMPLOYMENT GROWTH AND LABOUR MARKET ADJUSTMENT

38. The following section examines data available on the overall local authority social work services departments vacancies in relation to staffing level trends. Information on Social Workers is also analysed as a subset of the workforce. Data is aggregated to a national level but local authority differentials in staffing levels are likely to be connected to deprivation and population density (rural/urban) factors. Local vacancy levels and rates however are more likely to be determined by Human Resource/organisational differences and local labour market characteristics. Discussion is also provided on the available recruitment and retention indicators and churn.

Figure 5.1 Local authority social work services whole time equivalent staff

Note: This covers all staff working in Social Work Services departments, not just social workers.

39. It is estimated that Local Authorities account for around 1/3 of the total Social Care Labour Market with 36,415 whole-time equivalent employees in 2003. It should be noted that the census data used in figure 5.1 and 5.2 does not have the same definition boundaries for the public sector category used in the Labour Force Survey or the PIR categories but gives an the most accurate total for staffing levels in all Local Authorities in Scotland as this is census based. The main drawback is that the amount of staff employed indirectly through outsourcing is not reflected in these figures which may be part of the explanation behind the dip in staff between 1996 and 1999. It is evident that from 1999 there have been rising whole time equivalent staff levels. Vacancy figures are available from 2000 and there has been a growing gap between actual staffing levels and numbers of posts (WTE plus vacancies). Evidently employment levels have been expanding in Local Authorities but demand has been growing faster than supply which has been reflected in vacancy rates. It should be noted however that vacancy figures may not give an accurate reflection of labour market shortages because of a range of other factors that may affect the reported vacancy rates. Fundamentally, vacancies in a background of sector growth and rapid finance expansion may be a problem of fast paced increases in public sector demand as opposed to a shortage of labour supply.

Figure 5.2 Local authority social work services whole time equivalent posts and posts filled

Source: Scottish Executive annual local authority social work services staffing census
Note: Vacancy data not available pre-2000

Figure 5.3 Local authority social work services WTE posts, posts filled and vacancies

Source: Scottish Executive annual local authority social work services staffing census

SOCIAL WORKERS

40. As a part of the wider social care workforce, social workers do not represent a large proportion, though are strongly identified as a high skilled and crucial segment of the workforce. Local authority data on numbers of social workers is available from 1971 and is found in Figure 5.4. Growth in numbers of social workers has been strong from 780 in 1970 to 4196 in 1994 after which there was a sharp dip associated with wider public sector contraction at that time. Comparable data is not available in the period 1995-99 however data over the last few years confirms that growth in the numbers of social workers has now re-commenced. In 2003 there were 4511 Social Workers employed (4102 WTE) reported through the annual census. Vacancy information is available from 2000 and 2002. As with the wider social services staff group discussed above, the data shows that although staffing levels have been increasing, that vacancies have grown faster such that the gap between actual and requited staffing levels has grown. Increases in demand for social workers has outpaced the increases in supply (Figure 5.4). More up to date is however now available from monthly returns which indicate that in June 2004 there were 4325 WTE social worker posts filled, and 572 WTE posts vacant giving 4897 WTE local authority social worker posts in total.

Figure 5.4
Local authority social workers (whole time equivalent)

Note: Data gaps represent years where format of data collected is not directly comparable in time series. 2004 data taken from June monthly return for most recent information, previous data taken from annual census.

Figure 5.5
Local Authority social worker posts and posts filled

Note: WTE represents the whole time equivalent numbers of social workers (adjusted to represent effective full-time posts). The actual number of social workers is higher as not all will work full time. The total number of posts is given by posts filled plus vacancies. The vacancy ratio is given by the number of vacancies over total posts. 2000-2003 figures taken from the annual census and refer to the situation in October of each year. The latest 2004 WTE figures are taken from the monthly return based in June.

STAFF TURNOVER, RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION

41. Information on recruitment and retention is scattered and more detailed information is available for certain subgroups such as the Pre-School and Childcare sector and Social Workers. Local Authority vacancy levels are available from the annual Staff of Scottish Local Authority Social Work Services Census.

42. For quantitative evidence on turnover, Local Authority Data on Social Workers is available for 1999. This shows that 115 senior social work staff and 303 main grade social workers left local authority social work departments in 1999 (representing 6% and 8% of respective staff numbers). Over the same period however, 52 (3%) senior social work staff and 433 (11%) main grade social workers joined local authority social work departments resulting in a net increase of total social workers employed. The trend in social worker staffing levels has continued to increase. Significantly, applications for training courses are actually well above the number of places available. This would indicate again that the main problem lies in the timely supply of social workers to meet projected demand. Neither vacancy figures or turnover rates however give a full understanding of churn and exit in the sector. Further evidence may also be needed on attrition rates of those who have qualified and their labour market patterns in order to plan more effectively at a national level.

43. More detailed and reliable information is available on recruitment and retention indicators for the sub-sector of childcare in the Pre-School and Childcare Workforce Survey (Scottish Executive). The latest available data indicates is based on a census of 26,700 posts in public, private and voluntary sectors. Between Sept 2002 and Sept 2003 6,500 were recruited (24%) and 4,400 (17.9%) left. Vacancies stood at 1,100 (4.2% of posts) at the end of this period. This is compared in the publication to an average vacancy rate for the whole economy is 3% and 5% for health and social care employers.

44. In the Future Skills Scotland survey, the national average vacancy rate was found to be 3.1%. This represented 65,000 posts vacant of which 29,000 (1.4%) were reported to be "hard to fill" by employers and 12,000 (0.6%) were described as skill shortage vacancies. Vacancy rates were found to be generally higher in occupations that usually require a lower level of skill. The characteristics of the social care sector however is likely to differ over the forthcoming years as employees under the Regulation and Care Act 2001 will require to meet qualification requirements for registration implying that skills shortages are likely to be a greater problem than exists for other unregulated sectors in the economy.

Reasons For Leaving

45. PIR data includes fields on whether Exit Interviews took place when a member of staff departed and also Reasons for Leaving. Of the 15,577 staff that are recorded as leaving during the inspection period, 5126 (32.9%) were indicated to have had an exit interview, 4816 did not, and 5635 had missing responses. A table of Reasons for Leaving is included in Figure 5.6. As this was on open-ended question within the PIR, the answers given had to be coded during data collection. It shows that at least 11% of leavers left for another job in social care, and 2.4% outwith the sector. A further 19.61% however left for another job, the details of which were unspecified and 2.83% left for higher pay. 4.2% left for retirement, 6.15% to become a student and 4.55% were dismissed. 15% of leavers were indicated as leaving for family reasons, which included those leaving to look after family members, and also those leaving if the family was moving to another area. 22.63% left for other reasons that were not picked up by these categories and 11.47% had recorded no response. These figures should be taken with caution as the sample is not random and due to the open-ended nature of the question, not all responses could be categorised.

Figure 5.6
a. Exit interviews

b. Reasons for leaving

46. Qualitative research can help explain the factors that may lie behind retention difficulties where and when they exist. Research is available surrounding the retention of social workers through a report commissioned by the SSSC and conducted by the Social Worker Research Centre at Stirling University. ¹¹ The survey used is based on a sample size of 338 social workers and covers 3 local authorities and 1 voluntary organisation. A list of different reasons were surveyed however the factors that came out most significant are summarised below:

• Between 40-50% of those surveyed indicated that commitment to clients, job satisfaction and relations with colleagues are factors that encourage them to stay in the job.
• Between 40-50% of those surveyed indicated that inadequate resources and stress were factors that discouraged them from staying.