Responding to Skills for Care’s annual report on the state of the adult social care sector and workforce, Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said:

"Health leaders will be concerned by these figures which continue to show worrying trends in how competitive social care pay and terms are in the labour market, and the risk that the care sector’s growing reliance on international recruitment and its global workforce is undermined by changes in migration policy.

“Social care staff from overseas play an increasingly vital role in social care services and contribute valuable skills and knowledge.  However, as these figures highlight, we are headed for cliff edge in the social care workforce in the years to come as both domestic and international workforce numbers dwindle and the number of people who need vital social care support surges.

“The social care and health sectors are sister services both focused on improving the health of the communities they serve.  We acknowledge that the new government have made a number of important commitments regarding fair pay for the social care workforce. 

"However, there is a need to go further and the recent Skills for Care Workforce Strategy sets out a series of steps and actions which we urge the government to also support and implement."