International recruitment in Social Care challenges and opportunities

Aug 13, 2019

Executive insights survey
July 2019

The purpose of this executive survey, among Care England members, was to assess the relevance of
International recruitment , in recent years and going forward, as a potential solution to the workforce
challenges of our UK Care sector.

  • We received responses from the Executive teams of 35 Social Care providers, demonstrating the significant
    interest in the topic
  • Recruitment and retention were a consistent challenge for all respondents , with 1 in 4 respondents
    experiencing over 16% vacancy rates and around 1 in 2 respondents showing staff turnover in excess of
    16%, both particularly significant among the largest providers
  • 35% of respondents continue to recruit or have recruited from countries like Romania, Poland, Italy,
    Spain, India and the Philippines , largely because of lack of local staff
  • The feedback on the quality of care workers from abroad was positive, with 44% of executives rating
    overseas workers 7/10 and as high as 8/10, with no ratings below 5/10
  • However, feedback on the ease of the international recruitment process was mixed , ranging from very
    difficult to very easy, with respondents using a variety of channels, from international recruitment agencies
    to direct recruitment and job fairs
  • Finding the right recruitment partner was rated as the most critical success factor , with 100% of
    respondents rating it ‘important’ or ‘very important’

 

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International recruitment survey results July 2019