Tuesday, 17 November 2026
12:00 – 13:30 GMT
Online
In Wales, and throughout the UK, workforce retention has been identified as one of the most significant challenges facing social care. Retention and recruitment are closely connected as it becomes harder to recruit new workers if people are choosing not to stay.
Join us as we present and discuss some of the latest research on the social care workforce and why workers are choosing to join the sector, why they stay and why they leave. In this seminar we spotlight values-based recruitment and the experiences of young people working in social care.
Key Highlights
Should I stay or should I go? Workers’ commitment to social care in Wales
Dr Katy Huxley will introduce findings from the Have Your Say 2026 social care workers survey, focusing on issues around recruitment and retention in social care work. We discuss how workers initially found out about care work, what motivates them to work in social care, and whether they intend to leave or stay in the sector. The survey findings indicate social care workers are a highly committed workforce, motivated to make a difference to people’s lives.
Curious about Care? Making values-based recruitment a reality in homecare
Curious about Care is a platform to support applicants in their understanding about homecare, and for recruitment managers to assess applicants’ values for the role. Dr Mark Wilberforce will summarise the development and evaluation to date and provides more information on how to access the free resource.
“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do”: Exploring Young People’s Experiences of Working in Social Care in Wales
Dr Richard Gater will report findings from the Have Your Say 2026 study, which explored the experiences of fifteen direct care workers aged 30 and under working in social care in Wales. The term ‘direct care workers’ is used to refer to people in frontline social care roles, such as care assistants, domiciliary care workers, care home workers, and support workers. Overall, the findings show an initial lack of aspiration to enter social care work. However, once in the sector, participants found the work rewarding because it enabled them to make a difference to people’s lives, raising important questions about how to attract young people directly into social care work.
Speaker Spotlight:
Dr Katy Huxley is a Research Fellow in the Social Science Research Park (SPARK) at Cardiff University with interests in education, workforce experiences, governance and social inequalities.
Dr Mark Wilberforce is an Associate Professor of Social Care at the University of Birmingham with a special interest in workforce research.
Dr Richard Gater is a Research Associate at the Centre for Adult Social Care Research (CARE) at Cardiff University, with academic interests in masculinities, gender, education, employment, social class, and health and well-being.
Professor Paul Willis is a professor of adult social care, a registered social care worker and the Director of the Centre for Adult Social Care Research.
