The adult day care workforce in England at a time of policy change: implications for learning disability support services

Abstract

More people will receive personal budgets to pay for social care services in England. Such people may or may not continue using services such as adult day care centres. Many day centres are under threat of closure. These trends will affect those working in adult day care. This article examines the profile of this workforce, using recent NMDS-SC data and applying multinomial statistical modelling. We identified nearly 6000 adult day care workers, over half supporting adults with learning disability. The results of the analysis show significant variations between the adult day care, residential care and domiciliary workforces. At the personal level, day care workers are significantly older and less ethnically diverse than other workers. They tend to have been working in the sector for longer, and their work patterns are more stable. The findings are discussed within the context of policy changes affecting learning disabilities and social care workforce strategies.