Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to recruit and retain social care staff.

The national recruitment campaign for adult social care launched on 3 November and will run until March 2022. Free rapid induction training and free and fast track Disclosure and Barring Service and barred list checks are also available to support fast onboarding of staff.

We have announced a total of £462.5 million in Workforce Recruitment and Retention Funds to support local authorities working with providers to further boost staffing and support existing care work through the winter.

On 24 December 2021, we announced social care workers, care assistants and home care workers will become eligible for the Health and Care visa for a 12 month period. These roles will also be added to the shortage occupations list.