KPMG and REC have recently released 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.

Key highlights from the report:

• Permanent placements and temp billings return to growth
• Substantial increase in candidate supply amid redundancies
• Starting salaries and wages continue to decline
• Permanent Placement Index up from 44.7 in June to 50.9 in July
• Temporary Billings Index up from 45.1 in June to 55.6 in July

Commenting on the latest survey results, James Stewart, Vice Chair at KPMG, said: “It’s positive to see an uptick in hiring activity, particularly for temporary staff, which could mark a turning point with businesses appearing more willing and able to hire as more parts of the UK economy reopen.”

Also commenting is Neil Carberry, CEO of the REC: “A return to growth on permanent placements and temporary billings is good news – though it is also expected, given we are comparing activity now with the lockdown. Temporary work is critical in any recovery – businesses turn to temps to help them ramp up and meet demand while the future looks uncertain.”

It is very interesting to see in this report that Social Care is the top sector for Permanent recruitment and second for Temporary; with the clients that we work with we have seen an upturn in the short term staff requirements and these predominantly have been down to organisations overcoming the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has presented.

AJ Recruitment Director Andrew Brindley said “We have really seen that uplift in demand for support workers in August and beyond, some of this is likely to be seasonal holiday cover, however, this has carried on after the traditional holiday period. There is a huge demand for front line workers, we were told this week by one of our key recruitment partners the demand in Social Care is so high it is the most expensive and hardest sector to recruit for in the country currently.”

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

UK Report on Jobs: National

Click here to read how we have helped our clients throughout the coronavirus pandemic. We have made a huge positive impact on many services by continuing to provide a remarkable service over the last 6 months, we are very proud of this.

As a specialist family run recruitment business, we support 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.

If you would like us to set up a video call to discuss how we can collaborate, please let us know. To get in touch, my personal contact details are 03305 552233 and my email address is joguy@ajrecruitment.com or alternatively you can email Andrew on andrewbrindley@ajrecruitment.com.