Research: creating an adult social care workforce strategy for Cornwall

• September-December 2023

Our research helped Cornwall Council to create an adult social care workforce strategy for its independent sector workforce.

Cornwall has a super-ageing population with demand for adult social care growing more than for England more generally. It also has a reducing working-age population with higher-than-average levels of disability.

In economic terms, the adult social care sector contributed £606 million gross value added to Cornwall’s economy in 2022-23, an increase of 5.9% on 2021-2. It is one of the largest employers in the county.

Cornwall experiences similar recruitment and retention challenges to the rest of England, as well as regionally specific challenges, including a high cost of living, expensive accommodation, lack of reliable public transport and hard-to-reach rural areas, and poor digital connectivity.

These factors make recruitment into a low-paid sector difficult, especially against a backdrop of significant competition from other sectors and seasonal demand in tourism and hospitality in particular.

Significant growth is required. Forecasts indicate that the independent sector workforce will need to grow around 30-35% by 2035 to match the growing demand for adult social care in Cornwall.

This workforce strategy was urgently needed. Its underlying premise is the need to create good work in the sector. This includes:

• the offer of fair pay
• secure employment
• training
• qualifications and career progression opportunities
• worker recognition and involvement in decision-making.

Parity with the NHS for similar roles is essential, as are place-based solutions to the particular labour market challenges that Cornwall experiences.

Good work will attract workers and retain them in the adult social care sector, but the scale of the task in achieving this should not be underestimated. 

What did we do?

• A rapid evidence review of existing research on the adult social care workforce
• An economic analysis of the contribution of adult social care to Cornwall’s economy
• Statistical analysis of the current workforce position and scenario planning of future workforce demand and supply using Skills for Care’s adult social care workforce dataset
• Interviews and focus groups with stakeholder groups in Cornwall

Professor Atkinson sits on Cornwall’s Implementation Board to support strategy implementation.