Stress and low pay is making social care woefully short-staffed, says UNISON

30th March 2022

96% social care workers say their employer is currently short staffed. The claim is made in a report Burnout Pandemic by UNISON Scotland

Over 2,500 social care members took part in the survey, 85% of whom were women. They work in care at home and residential social care services provided by councils, private and third sector organisations.

The main causes of staff shortages are illness caused by stress and burnout (76%) low pay (69%), poor conditions of work (31%) and lack of any career path (24%) in a very challenging and demanding role.

Not having a voice at work on issues like rotas and work organisation is a major cause of dissatisfaction and for staff leaving. 60% say they feel pressured or even forced to work extra or longer shifts.

John Mooney, UNISON Scotland head of social care said: "Right across Scotland councils and other providers are struggling to fill vacancies. Given the depth of the crisis, we cannot wait for the kind of extensive and costly structural change involved in setting up a National Care Service. Improvement and investment in our social care system is needed now. Better pay and conditions, job security and respect at work are needed to resolve this crisis. We need a forum to collectively bargain improvements for social care workers now."

Quotes from social care staff:

"...staff cut backs have put a major strain on us and made it difficult to deliver a decent quality of service to our service users. The stress that comes with this has had such a negative effect on staff, sometimes breaking down in the workplace."

"We lost 11 members of staff in 5 weeks due to the way the home is run, ie we are not listened to when we report a decline in mobility or when we raise our concerns that we do not have enough staff in order to assist our residents the way they deserve"

Full report Burnout Pandemic is here