KPMG and REC have recently released March’s edition of the UK Report on Jobs: National. This report looks at both the positive and negative trends in recruitment for all sectors, including Social Care, and how this relates to the COVID-19 pandemic and the current situation.

Please find below some of the key highlights from the report:

• Permanent placements decline again, while temp billings expand only modestly
• The upturn in candidate availability now slows sharply
• The demand for staff is now broadly stable after a drop in January
• Permanent Placement Index has finally seen an increase from 43.8 in January to 47.1 in February
• Temporary Billings Index decreased again, but still remaining high, from 55 in January to 51.6 in February

Commenting on the latest survey results, James Stewart, Vice Chair at KPMG, said: “Business confidence remained subdued in February, with a further drop in permanent appointments and the lingering pandemic uncertainty still evident. The jobs market remains on hold with hiring decisions stalled, people reluctant to seek new roles and the growth in temporary billings has also slowed. However, it’s encouraging that we’re not seeing the big drop in vacancies or hiring that were seen in the first national lockdown. There’s a long way to go to rebuild confidence in the UK jobs market. But with the Covid roadmap to recovery in place and the Chancellor’s Budget announcement to further support businesses and individuals, there is reason for optimism for the UK’s future workforce.”

Also commenting is Neil Carberry, CEO of the REC: “Given the national lockdown that has been in place for the past two months, the labour market has coped remarkably well. Permanent placements have only fallen modestly, while vacancies and candidate availability have stabilised. Meanwhile, businesses have continued to use temporary work to help them through this tough period. We are well-positioned for a recovery as restrictions are lifted – but both businesses and workers will need help to do so. With that in mind, there was some good news in this week’s Budget. It was sensible to extend support measures like the furlough scheme and business tax deferrals while health restrictions are still in place, and expand support for the self-employed. But more could have been done to tackle the big economic transitions we face, encouraging growth and reducing unemployment.”

Andrew Brindley, Director of AJ Recruitment: “Although this month’s Report on Jobs continues to reflect a depressed jobs market as the economy has entered a 3rd month of full lockdown, this is no longer the picture everywhere. If you dig a little deeper into the vacancies by sector section, you will see that there is another story emerging. For example, the Social Care jobs market for permanent and temporary billings is up in demand on last month and up 5 times the amount from this time last year which is a really positive sign. We can expect this upturn to further increase as we continue to go through the motion of the Governments recently announced and greatly anticipated roadmap, so 2021 finally looks like it is set to become a defining year for employers.”

This report allows you to benchmark your business against the backdrop of the wider economy. I hope you find it useful to help you measure and understand where Social Care as a sector sits against the wider picture.

We want to let you know that we are here to support you, and if you would like to discuss the findings in the above report, or about how we can collaborate, please let us know. To get in touch, email recruitment@ajrecruitment.com

As a specialist, family-run recruitment business, we provide a proactive and consultative approach to recruitment. We help organisations to target issues such as continuity of staffing, reducing spend where you have a high volume of agency usage and supporting those who have specific talent requirements or are in hard to fill locations. We can help with any immediate staffing requirements or longer-term recruitment projects to ultimately save you time and money on agency spend.

Click here to see what our clients say about how we have supported them throughout the pandemic.