Union warns of ‘disastrous’ black hole in social care staffing – Alzheimer’s Society comment

The study by the GMB union for care workers indicated that London and the South East are worst affected regions, with 14,000 vacancies each.

There are almost 10,000 vacancies in the East of England and more than 8,000 in the North West and South West, with vacancy rates for care workers running at a "staggering" 9.1% - more than three times the average for all jobs, said the GMB.

Sally Copley, Director of Policy and Campaigns at Alzheimer’s Society, said:

'Yet again, more evidence emerges to show how dire our social care system is, and how desperately funding is needed to stop providers from complete collapse.

'There are 400,000 people with dementia currently receiving care at home, yet one in three homecare workers have been given no dementia training at all.'

'We have to urgently improve pay and conditions, including dementia training, so that people are motivated to stay in the sector. Until the Government agrees on a sustainable funding solution for social care, people with dementia will continue to be neglected. It’s appalling that so many are unable to get the quality care they so critically need.'