The report shows the vacancy rate fell to 6.2% in 2025/26, the lowest since 2015/16. This equates to around 96,000 vacancies on any given day, down 10.5% on the previous year. 

Despite this progress, vacancy levels in adult social care remain around three times higher than the wider economy, underlining the continued challenge of recruitment and retention within the sector. 

The number of posts filled by people with a British nationality fell by 40,000 over the past year and by 130,000 since 2020/21. 

While the number of non-British workers has increased, the removal of a dedicated international visa route means that the number of new international recruits recruited directly from abroad fell to 30,000 in 2025/26, the lowest level in four years. 

The sector is projected to require a further 410,000 posts by 2040. 

Reaction

Oonagh Smyth, chief executive of Skills for Care, said: ‘It's encouraging to see vacancies fall to their lowest level in 10 years and the workforce continuing to grow. This reflects the hard work and commitment of employers across the sector to attract and retain staff in a challenging environment. 

‘However, the longer-term picture remains difficult. Vacancy rates are still significantly higher than the wider economy, domestic workforce numbers are falling and there is no dedicated visa route for international recruitment – all of which highlight the scale of the challenge ahead.'

Chief executive of The NHS Alliance, Sir Ciarán Devane, warned ‘there could be further trouble ahead with falling numbers of UK-trained staff and a sharp decline in new international recruits'.

He added: ‘We hope that the Casey Review of social care will build on the recent progress to tackle recruitment and retention challenges, and we urge the Government to accelerate the review and move quickly to implement any recommendations.'

 Lucinda Allen, senior policy fellow at The Health Foundation, said: ‘Today's report is a tale of two halves. The social care vacancy rate has fallen to the lowest level in a decade. But workforce growth is slowing as numbers of both British staff and new international recruits fall. These trends highlight the long-term fragility of the care sector.'

UNISON head of social care Gavin Edwards said: ‘The figures also suggest the structural problems of low pay and poor working conditions have gone nowhere.

‘That makes the introduction of a properly funded Fair Pay Agreement, all the more urgent. The £500m so far promised doesn't even touch the sides of what's required.

‘There's real, hard-won progress here, and it reflects the effort providers and staff put in every day," said Melanie Weatherley, co-chair of the Care Association Alliance.

‘But beneath the numbers, 130,000 fewer British workers are in care than five years ago, 40,000 in the last year alone, and the international recruitment that filled that gap has now been sharply curtailed. The progress is welcome, but the structural problem underneath it is still there.

‘We need DHSC, DfE and DWP working together with genuine intent. We need stable apprenticeship routes, fair funding for the small providers who make up most of this sector, and real momentum behind the Workforce Strategy.

‘Skills for Care is convening partners on a 10-year plan to attract people into care; we strongly support that and want the Government to match the ambition. Every year we delay, more experienced people leave the sector and don't come back.

‘The fact that an extra 410,000 workers will be needed in the sector by 2040 must be a wake-up call for ministers to invest in this skilled, but too often neglected, workforce.'