New recruitment campaign aims to fill 300 social care jobs in Peterborough

A recruitment campaign has begun to fill hundreds of vacancies at social care providers across Peterborough.

New figures reveal there are at least 300 unfilled jobs in the sector.

Now the Department of Work and Pensions is to stage a careers fair at its offices in Peterborough in a bid to bring employers and potential recruits together.

The jobs fair will take place on November 23 at the offices in Bridge Street.

Shaun Sadler for the DWP said: “We are expecting 15 employers from the social care sector to attend the event.

“Peterborough has the lafegst aea of vacancies

“It is difficult to attract people into social care for a variety of reasons.”

The announcement of the recruitment problems facing social care providers in Peterborough comes after it was revealed that nationwide the industry is facing record vacancies.

According to Skills for Care, the number of jobs needing to be filled nationally has risen by 52 per cent in a year to about 165,000.

The organisation says this is the highest rate on record.

Oonagh Smyth, chief executive of the workforce development group, Skills for Care, said: “We must talk more about how rewarding social care is to work in so that we attract more people, and we must make it easier for the people who love working in social care to stay by improving terms and conditions and investing in their career development.”

Just eight months ago, the boss of care group Home Instead Peterborough warned of a looming recruitment crisis for the sector.

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.

Mr Kennedy added: “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