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SCOTLAND'S SOCIAL CARE LABOUR MARKET
COVERING LETTER
Dear Colleague
SCOTLAND'S SOCIAL CARE LABOUR MARKET
I am very pleased to enclose a copy of the summary version of Scotland's Social Care Labour Market Report. This report, the first of its kind, is a publication of the National Workforce Group (NWG) which was established to provide cohesion and strategic direction for the development of the social services workforce of the future. More information on the work of the NWG is available at www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/social-care-social-work
The full version of the report (as well as the summary version) will be available on the Scottish Executive website at www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications
The report brings together some of the key findings using currently available information on the social care labour market and covers the following areas:
- A Growing Sector (employment trends and the sector composition of the workforce)
- Workforce Age Profile
- Gender, Qualifications and Job Characteristics
- The Private and Voluntary Sectors
- Local Authority Employment Growth and Labour Market Adjustment
- Demographic trends; implications for labour supply and labour demand
The report will be relevant to anyone needing to understand the shape of the workforce. I am sure it will prove particularly useful to those involved in the recruitment, management and support of staff, Some key trends emerging in the report are:
- Employment in the sector has been growing faster than the average across Scotland
- Over the last 9 years
- male employment has doubled
- qualification levels have increased
- there has been an increase in the proportion of employees with full time contracts.
- Labour demand has been increasing faster than supply.
- The continued decline in numbers of children and increase in those over the retirement age will affect future demand.
- Future labour demand will however also be dependant on the intensity of services which are policy driven. Societal changes and health factors also affect service user numbers.
- Increasingly, local authorities are contracting out services, but this varies regionally. At a national level, combined employment in the private and voluntary sectors is now greater than in the public sector.
- The age profile of the workforce is comparable with the health sector, though varies between the private, voluntary and public sectors. This may reflect different career paths taken in/out of these sectors.
The report was produced through the Social Care Workforce Intelligence Unit, which has been set up within the Scottish Executive in order to provide analysis of demand and supply issues as well as potential future workforce trends. The contents of the report will be updated annually.
In a time of change in the sector and with the prospect of continuing change, I am sure that the information contained in this report and those which follow will be a vital aid to workforce planning.
Yours sincerely
KATE VINCENT
Head of Social Work Services Policy Division
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