On Wednesday 20 November at the University of Leeds, a panel of experts dug into the many reasons why there's currently a worker recruitment and retention problem in the social care sector, and they didn't hold back in their criticisms.

Westward Care Managing Director Peter Hodkinson was one of the panel members at the They're Not Clapping Now debate, which saw a range of speakers discuss what has been called "the greatest workforce crisis in history".

Pointing out that recruitment and retention in social care is a national issue, Peter said: "We need a workforce czar in every local authority funded by government - otherwise we will piecemeal our way forward. What works in one area won’t work in another. We need to work in a business way to make a career in social care attractive and fulfilling in all ways."

Melanie Weatherley MBE, a fellow at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, argued that society doesn't fully recognise the value of social care. Saying that workers are leaving the care sector for Amazon or Aldi because they can no longer afford to do the job, Melanie asked why it is that international workers are prepared to work in social care but many students from UK universities aren’t.

Professor Oonagh Smyth, the CEO of Skills for Care, acknowledged that over 350,000 people joined the social care workforce last year, but lamented the "leaky bucket" of people leaving the sector even as many thousands continue to be recruited. Neil Eastwood, the Founder and CEO at Care Friends, said that more social care workers needed to be recruited at a local level - people with emotional maturity, no matter their age.

Karen Spilsbury, Professor of Nursing at the University of Leeds and Academic Director of NICHE-Leeds, called the system-wide issue "really challenging" and argued that waiting for help from national government would only delay a much-needed solution further.

A big part of the solution to the workforce crisis will be actually agreeing upon a solution, with one major issue currently being too many strategies and not enough implementation. On that, everyone on the panel could agree.