Childcare workers 'leaving sector for retail and hospitality jobs'
Tuesday, December 13, 2022
Nurses at children's homes are working in retail or catering trade because of 'significant staffing challenges' affecting the social sector, the report finds.
The shortage of staff meant local authorities were not provided with adequate child places, or enough workers to deal with care homes with the requisite skills, Ofsted said in its report on education and social care in England.
High staff turnover also contributes a negative stigma to children's life in care, increasing pressure and workloads on staff to remain, the Supervisors' annual report says.
In the year to September 2021, 9 per cent of community child social workers left the sector, up from 7 per cent the year before, Ofsted said.
During the year to March, over a third (35%) of employed permanent carers remained in childcare jobs, while during that same period almost half (44%) of permanent carers were recruited, according to the report.