SOCIAL care urgently needs funding after more than 100,000 workers left the sector in the last financial year, a new report says.

One in three of the 390,000 people who left their social care jobs in the year to March exited the sector, Skills for Care found.

The strategic workforce development and planning body added some 440,000 posts are needed to keep in line with the projected number of people aged 65 and over in the population by 2035.

It published its findings in its annual State of the Adult Social Care Sector and Workforce in England report today.

Skills for Care chief executive Oonagh Smyth welcomed the “green shoots for the sector” with the workforce having grown slightly and the vacancy rate down year-on-year.

“But the challenges haven’t gone away,” she added.

“In particular, the fact that 390,000 people left their jobs in 2022/23 and around a third of them left the sector altogether shows that we have a leaky bucket that we urgently need to repair.

“We can’t simply recruit our way out of our retention challenges. So, we need a comprehensive workforce strategy to ensure we can both attract and keep enough people with the right skills to support everyone who draws on care and support — and all of us who will draw on care and support in the future.”

The body said it was working with “a wide range of organisations and people who have a stake in social care” to develop a workforce strategy for the sector identifying what is needed over the next 15 years, complementing the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan which was published earlier this year.

Miriam Deakin, director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers which represents trusts, said: “With an estimated 440,000 extra adult social care staff needed by 2035, the development of a new workforce strategy by Skills for Care is a welcome step.

“However, a plan alone will not be enough unless it is accompanied by sustainable government investment and support to ensure the sector can not only recruit but keep much-needed staff.”

Hugh Alderwick, director of policy at the Health Foundation, added that international recruitment “is no replacement for the more fundamental policy action needed to improve pay and conditions for people working in social care.”

Social Workers Union (SWU) general secretary John McGowan said the biggest challenges facing the profession is the lack of funding.

He said: “The resources just aren’t there to enable social workers and social care staff to do their jobs properly.”