This report examines how national policy drivers influence social care workforce transformation, highlighting their intended outcomes and unintended repercussions within the ESRC Centre for Care’s Workforce Change Research Group framework. It is focused on the study ‘Understanding the drivers and implications of care workforce change,’ which investigated national-level policy drivers of social care workforce change and their intended and unintended effects on the workforce.
The Care Workforce Change research group is led by Professor Shereen Hussein at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Our research aims to understand the drivers, characteristics, and implications of changes in the care workforce, particularly how paid care work is interconnected with other aspects of the care ecosystem. We organize our investigations at three levels: macro (systems and national policies), meso (care delivery and provision), and micro (individual and groups of workers). Specific projects within RGC are developed in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, groups, and individuals through ongoing dialogues and priority mapping. Central to our research methodology and conceptual design are issues of diversity and inequalities experienced throughout the life courses of both care workers and those receiving care.
To cite: Hussein, S. and Kispeter, E. (2025). Policy Drivers of Social Care Workforce Change: United Kingdom Insights, Impacts, and Future Directions. Centre for Care Research Report, CIRCLE, Sheffield: University of Sheffield
ISBN 978-1-8382688-8-6
©The authors and CIRCLE, The University of Sheffield, September 2025