KPMG and REC have recently released February edition of the UK Report on Jobs: National. This report looks at both the positive and negative trends in recruitment for all sectors, including Social Care, and how this relates to the current climate.

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

• Substantial increases in permanent placements and temp billings
• Pay pressures remain elevated as candidate availability falls rapidly
• Overall vacancy growth eases, but remains sharp
• Permanent Placement Index decreases from 68.4 in December to 66.8 in January
• Temporary Billings Index increases slightly from 61.8 in December to 64.6 in January

Commenting on the latest survey results, Claire Warnes, Partner and Head of Education, Skills and Productivity at KPMG:
“The new year has seen the jobs market continuing where it left off, with a steep climb in permanent and temporary hiring. Meanwhile, a sustained decline in the number of suitable candidates has pushed starting salaries up for yet another month. It will be important to monitor how these dynamic features of the job market respond to the competing pressures being felt by both businesses and candidates – the desire to make the most of the reduction in Covid restrictions on the one hand; and the understandable concern over the cost of living and inflationary rises on the other. Some sectors are continuing to show the strain of high demand for permanent and temporary roles. In particular, the IT and Computing, and Nursing, Healthcare and Medical sectors saw the greatest vacancy increases for yet another month, reflecting the significant workforce and skills challenges which these sectors have faced, and which the pandemic has accelerated.”

Also commenting is Neil Carberry, Chief Exec of the REC:
“The jobs market is still growing strongly at the start of 2022. Recruiters are working hard to place people into work as demand from employers continues to rise. With competition for staff still hot, companies are having to raise pay rates for new starters to attract the best people. And the cost of living crisis means there is also more pressure from jobseekers who want a pay rise. But pay is not the only important factor – companies must think about all aspects of their offer to candidates to ensure they get the staff they need. This will be important as firms’ spending is under pressure from inflation as well. Government’s role is to manage inflation, but also to ensure that they do not discourage investment – that is what will drive the economy to grow through this year. Now is the wrong time to be raising National Insurance, the biggest business tax. But politicians should also be thinking about longer-term workforce planning, making sure we have the skills the country needs for the future. This will take a collaborative effort between the public and private sectors, and the recruitment industry stands ready to help.”

Andrew Brindley, Director of AJ Recruitment, said:
“Yet another month of high demand for Temporary and Permanent roles across our sector, we have seen this demand turn into wage rises pretty much across the sector ahead of the national minimum wage rise in April. We at AJ Recruitment have also mirrored this with record demand for our services across the region. As we move further out of covid and the pandemic subsides, we expect this trend to continue for the rest of the first half of the year at least.”

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, 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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