At the start of this month we spoke about some information shared by Matt Hancock, who had said that care staff could be legally required to take the COVID vaccine under new plans that the government are considering.

In light of this, the Government has now launched a consultation on the matter, to collate responses and opinions on the proposal. Although a final decision has yet to be made, a verdict in favour of the proposal could have a significant impact on the sector specifically causing legal and recruitment challenges.

With current estimations targeting the 31st July for all adults in the UK to have been offered their first COVID vaccination, the proposed legislation would mean it is likely that care providers would be unable to advertise social care vacancies to those aged 18-49 until this time. Based on data gathered in September 2019 according to Skills for Care, this would equate to 50.4% of the UK’s adult social care workforce. This coupled with the number of vacancies in adult social rising, where currently 1 in 11 care roles are left unfilled, the sector may find itself under even more pressure when it comes to staffing.

According to the consultation, the current proposed regulations would apply to any care home which has at least one person over the age of 65 being supported in a service that is registered with the Care Quality Commission which is in line with advice from the SAGE Social Care Working Group.

The consultation is due to close on the 21st May 2021 and it is important for everyone in adult social care to respond to this consultation, to ensure a balanced viewpoint. Even though the proposed legislation is currently aimed at services who support adults aged 65 and over only, this consultation will still be interested in hearing views from everyone across the adult social care sector. Especially due to factors such as the aging learning disability population meaning a larger number of care services are likely to be affected by the proposed legislation.

It is also still a very real possibility that this legislation could be rolled out sector wide, should the verdict be in favour of the proposal, so it is very important that everyone is prepared.

Click here to read about the consultation!

Click here to learn how to respond to the consultation!

If you would like more information on the above, or discuss how we can collaborate, please let us know. To get in touch, please email [email protected] or call us on 03305 552233!

As a specialist, family run recruitment business, we provide a proactive and consultative approach to recruitment. We help organisations to target issues such as continuity of staffing, reducing spend where you have a high volume of agency usage and supporting those who have specific talent requirements or are in hard to fill locations. We can help with any immediate staffing requirements or longer-term recruitment projects to ultimately save you time and money on agency spend.

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