Without overseas workers, the British social care system would likely collapse - Jayne Dowle
A record number of men now work in care in England, according to a new report from government-funded Agency Skills For Care, which finds that more than one in five (21 per cent) people employed in the sector are male.
Until recently, my son, Jack, who’s 22, was one of them. He wasn’t the only one of his school classmates to head in this direction either; one youngster became a daily carer for an older gentleman with learning difficulties, and another, who ended up working in care after leaving the armed services, is now employed in some of the region’s most challenging secure units, and is studying for a degree in mental health.
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Hide AdJack worked in a care home looking after adults with severe physical and mental needs for almost a year, before the demands – he was regularly hit, scratched or bitten by residents – and the 13-hour shifts took their toll on his own wellbeing.


But he’s positive about the good bits; the satisfaction of knowing he was helping others and the camaraderie, especially as he worked with a group of football-mad Nigerian lads, who travelled to work on two buses from Sheffield every morning.
Research shows that the migrant care workforce typically includes more men than the UK-born care workforce.
“In many countries, where migrant care workers come from, care work may be seen as more gender-neutral or as suitable work for men, compared to the UK where it has traditionally been viewed as ‘women’s work’,” says Jane Townson, the chief executive of the Homecare Association, which represents domiciliary care providers.
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Hide AdTownson explains that for many male migrants, care work also offers a relatively accessible entry point into the UK labour market, even if it was not their preferred or long-term career choice.
It’s interesting to note also that this new Skills for Care research shows that the sector has hired 185,000 foreign recruits in the last two years, more than offsetting a drop in British-born workers. The next time someone turns their nose up and makes derogatory comments about ‘foreign’ workers coming to the UK and ‘taking all the jobs’ remember this stark truth.
Staff from overseas are doing these jobs in care because not enough British people want to do them. It’s hard work, demanding and for pay that, at an average of £11.58 an hour, is just 14p above the national minimum wage and less than a typical McDonald’s worker, this new research found. Turnover is high; almost a quarter of staff left the sector in the last year, with wages rising by only 10p an hour on average after five years of experience.
Over the last two years recruits from 130 different nationalities came to join our care workforce, more than offsetting a decline of 70,000 in the number of British care workers. Thousands of people have come from countries such as Nigeria, India and Zimbabwe.
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Hide AdSo far, Nigel Farage and his right-wing cronies have been quiet on these inarguable and valuable findings, which leave us in no doubt that without overseas workers, the British social care system would have likely collapsed.
However, Professor Oonagh Smyth, chief executive of Skills for Care, warns that whilst international recruitment has been vital in helping the care workforce grow, “we can’t count on this continuing as we’re starting to see less of it – and the global job market is a competitive one.
“We need to stem the tide of British care workers who are leaving their jobs, and we can only do that by improving the quality of care roles so the sector can be more competitive in local job markets.”
This is true; the new workers’ rights being put into place by the government will be studied closely by care workers and the trades unions which represent their interests. Most care homes and services are privately-owned; sharp practices are sadly not uncommon.
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Hide AdHowever, fair pay and conditions is only one element of the reform that the social care sector deserves – and has been long-promised. It’s reported that talks between Yorkshire social care campaigner Mike Padgham and Social Care Minister Stephen Kinnock are “constructive”.
But what cannot be overlooked, as Padgham argues, is fixing the relationship between the NHS and social care, for this is the crux of the matter. As he says, the government taking social care more seriously would alleviate the burden on the NHS,
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