The National Care Forum has said that voluntary sector care home staff have become more qualified and less liable to quit their jobs over the past year.
The NCF, which represents not-for-profit providers, said its annual staff survey, which this year covered almost 33,000 employees across residential and home care, showed significant improvements in several areas.
Staff turnover in residential homes for older people fell from about 25% in 2007 to just over 21%, while the proportion of care home staff with NVQ Level 2 rose from 59% to 67%. Under the national minimum standards 50% of the workforce in each older people’s care homes should be qualified to NVQ Level 2 by 2005.
The proportion of residential care managers with NVQ Level 4, which involves training in management and supervision, also rose, from 90% to almost 98%.
National Care Forum executive director Des Kelly said: “The findings are a good news story for the not-for-profit sector, showing improvements in qualification rates and in staff turnover.”
Overall vacancy rates fell from 10% to just over 9%. However, turnover was higher in home care than in the residential sector, at 29.6%.
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