Demand for staff in the service sector increases as job creation reaches a 7-year high! IHS Markit and CIPS UK have released their Quarterly UK Business Outlook Report for June 2021. This report reveals how confident UK businesses feel about their prospects for the next 12 months.

Please find below some of the key highlights from the report:

• Strong recovery in service activity continues, but cost inflation hits a record high during June
• Business activity growth eases slightly from May’s 24 year high
• Backlogs of work rise at the fastest pace since the survey began in 1996
• Job creation reaching a seven-year high
• Input cost and prices charged inflation both hit record highs

Commenting on the report, Tim Moore, Economics Director at IHS Markit said: “The service sector recovery remained in full swing during June as looser pandemic restrictions released pent up demand for business and consumer services. Sales growth eased slightly from May’s recent peak, but capacity constraints and staff shortages meant that many service providers struggled to keep up with new orders. Backlogs of work increased at a faster pace than any other time since the survey began in July 1996, despite job creation reaching a seven-year high. Difficulties filling staff vacancies were reported by survey respondents in all parts of the service economy during June, with social care, hospitality and leisure experiencing the greatest squeeze. Staff shortages and delays among suppliers were by far the most commonly cited constraints on growth in June.”

Also commenting, Andrew Brindley, Director at AJ Recruitment said: “Junes PMI report makes for an interesting read as we have had yet another solid month of growth in business right across the service sector. What is also interesting, is the number of companies that cannot meet production needs due to staff shortages, this is especially true in the social care and hospitality sector. We can expect this demand to continue now freedom day has arrived and most of the covid restrictions have been lifted.”

This report allows you to benchmark your business against the backdrop of the wider economy. I hope you find it useful to help you measure and understand where Social Care as a sector sits against the wider picture.

If you would like to discuss the findings in the above report, or about 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 within Social Care. 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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