The boss of Home Instead Peterborough has warned of the worst recruitment crisis in a decade for care agencies

The alarm has been sounded by Phil Kennedy, managing director of Home Instead Peterborough, in Cygnet Park, Hampton, which has 65 staff and is looking to increase that number by 10 per cent.

He said: “The current recruitment climate is the most challenging we have seen in over 10 years of trading.

“Filling vacancies has never been harder and the number of applications per vacancy seems to have been steadily falling for the last four or five years in the wake of some difficult macro-economic conditions, Brexit, and of course the pandemic.”

His comments come after a care sector jobs fair, attended by 15 companies, was hosted in Peterborough by the Department of Work and Pensions.

Mr Kennedy said: “Many organisations have struggled to recruit sufficient staff to maintain quality of service they would like to provide and ultimately the end service user and their families are the ones that suffer.

“At Home Instead, we are trying to dramatically increase pay and benefits to our staff and set our stall out as one of the best paying care agencies in the area. It’s important to do whatever we can to help care staff with travel costs and maintain our commitment to paying at least the real living wage which sits above the government’s national living wage.

“Care must be an attractive career choice for people who want to make a difference and for many would-be carers, it’s the softer benefits of the role that are most attractive.”

“People want to work as part of a team and feel listened to and collaborate so again this is something we have tried to foster throughout our organisation.”

The DWP has set up a training partnership with City College Peterborough to provide training for new recruits to the care sector.

A spokeswoman said: “This is a test project and if successful can be rolled out nationally.

“It is a challenge for employers in the care sector to find enough staff. But the country does have to find a way to care for its elderly people.”

READ MORE:

Peterborough chosen to lead on a national pilot project to care for our elderly

Peterborough home care firm creates jobs as it celebrates 10th anniversary