The dementia social care workforce in England: secondary analysis of a national workforce dataset

Abstract

Objective: Little is known about the social care workforce supporting people with dementia in England. This article seeks to compare the characteristics of people employed in the social care sector supporting people with dementia with other members of the social care workforce.

Methods: This article reports on the secondary analysis of a new national workforce dataset from England covering social care employees. Secondary analysis of this dataset was undertaken using 457,031 unique workers' records.

Results: There are some important differences between the dementia care workforce and other parts of the social care workforce in respect of the dementia care workforce being more likely to be female, to work part-time, to be employed by agencies and to be less qualified. Many work for medium-sized care businesses and in people's own homes. The findings are set in the context of efforts to increase training and skills.

Conclusion: Knowledge of the social care workforce is relevant to care quality and should be borne in mind when planning interventions and commissioning services.