THE care industry is facing recruitment issues according to professionals.

New data published by employment group Manpower said the number of employers reporting skills shortages has increased by six times over the last decade – the highest number in 17 years.

The findings also showed that four in five businesses are struggling, with the care industry falling under those sectors most affected as approximately 10 million people remain unemployed in the UK.

Speaking of the effects recruitment has had on the care industry, Jonathan Beebee, 44, founder of Nursling based social care company, PBS4 told The Daily Echo: “The biggest challenge at the moment is recruitment in the industry.

“We support 40 people, but we employ 250 staff to support them as they need 24/7 support.

“It’s been a difficult couple of years as we’ve had the same cost pressures as everyone else.

“Our rates have gone up, our bills have gone up and in the face of the pandemic, we saw that professionals were being asked to stay at home, but we were saying to our employees, you’ve got to keep doing your work because people need you, so it’s been a challenging time.

“It’s a strange market at the minute because you might want to work in the case industry, but if your local shop down the road can offer you £2 an hour more, where are you going to go?”

Robin Boulter, 51, is a care coordinator at Walfinch Southampton as he admitted “the care industry has a battle on its hands.”

He continued: “You could argue a decline in recruitment is linked to both Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic, but you have to be a certain type of person to be a carer.  

“Working as a carer – it’s not about the monetary value, it’s about what you get out of it.”

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Difficulty in recruiting the right skilled workers appears to be a recurring theme in the care sector as business owners, Pascal Gaucher, 51, and, Stephen Ashe, 44, of Guardian Angel Carers in Eastleigh confessed: “The care industry is used to working in chaos.

“People do this from their heart, they’re not doing it for financial reward, and we want to make sure we reward our carers.

“You find with some companies unfortunately that have a high turnover of carers and will hire almost anyone, and those carers are overworked and underpaid and have little say in what they do.

“A happy carer will make a happy client.”