Facts about adult social care

People want the health aND social care service to be an enabler to a good life.

 Adult social care is the primary responsibility of councils who work under the jurisdiction of The Health and Social Care Act.

 Adult social care is provided in a number of ways; including residential care, a care worker providing support in the home or a support worker who assists a person to maintain their independence.

 Adult social care services are not free at the point of use, unlike the NHS. Support can be paid for by local councils, or through private funds. There are also many carers; including family members, neighbours, or friends.

 Adult social care is primarily provided by over 21,000 organisations, many of them small businesses.

 In 2018, the number of people working in adult social care was estimated at 1.47 million.

 The social care workforce in England is bigger than the NHS workforce.

 The number of adult social care jobs in England in 2017 was estimated at 1.6 million – this has increased by around 1.2% (19,000 jobs) between 2016 and 2017.

 Around 390,000 people leave their jobs in adult social care every year – that’s over 1,000 every day - and approximately 110,000 vacancies at any one time.

 The total direct, indirect and induced value of the adult social care sector in the UK was estimated to be 2.6 million jobs (1.8 million FTEs) and £46.2 billion.