Investment key to future of social care in Scotland - Heather Harris

Social care in Scotland continues to face severe pressure in terms of both staffing levels and relevant skills.

Urgent measures are required in order to address the current and seemingly endless recruitment crisis within social care, which supports some of our most vulnerable people.

It can be argued that both Brexit and the recent Covid-19 pandemic have exacerbated an already long-standing issue, with those staff working within the social care sector feeling increasingly pressured and at times undervalued for the essential work that they undertake. In addition, those people purchasing support services can feel disempowered and that they are not receiving added value from providers.

Currently, the largest challenges within social care from an HR leader’s perspective are shortage of available labour and skilled talent; managing and supporting staff ill health, in particular mental health; employee turnover, and staff training and development.