How common are care vacancies?
Skills for Care's 2025 report puts the vacancy rate across adult social care in England at 7.0% in 2024/25, around 111,000 vacant posts. It varies by setting. Domiciliary care ran at 9.7%. Residential care ran at 4.4%.
That context helps when you are explaining a long vacancy to your operations director. It does not tell you why your role is still open. The five checks below usually do.
1. Is the salary competitive?
Compare your salary with the jobs people are actually leaving for. That means other care homes, but also the NHS trust down the road, supermarkets with predictable hours and other providers who have moved their pay recently.
The quickest test is to ask. Candidates who decline an offer, staff who leave and your recruiter will all tell you if the money is the reason. If it is, you have three choices: raise it, change the role so the salary fits, or accept the search will take longer.
2. Can people get there?
A service that is hard to reach without a car will lose candidates who do not drive, however good the job is. In home care, the travel between visits is part of the job, and people weigh it up.
Be specific in the advert about parking, public transport and, for home care, how travel time and mileage are paid. Vague wording here puts off the people most likely to ask.
3. Does the working pattern suit people?
Rotas that change every week, long runs of weekends and early starts that clash with school drop-off rule out a lot of good people. So does insisting on full-time when part-time would cover most of the need.
Look at whether the pattern could bend. Fixed days, a set weekend rotation or two part-time posts instead of one full-time post can widen the field more than a small pay rise.
4. Is the brief ruling people out?
Some vacancies stay open because the requirements rule out people you would happily hire. A common example is asking for a Level 3 qualification for a role where you would train the right person anyway.
Read the advert and the job description as a candidate would. Separate what is essential on day one from what you can build in the first year. Drop the rest.
5. Is your process too slow?
Good candidates are usually talking to more than one employer. Every extra step between application and offer is a chance to lose them.
- Reply to applications within a couple of working days.
- Offer interview times that suit people who already work, including early evenings.
- Decide quickly after the interview, and ring with the answer.
- Start the checks as soon as the offer is accepted.
When to change the role instead of the search
If a role has been open for a long time and the answers above point to the job itself, the fix may be redesigning it. That might mean splitting a post, changing the hours, or moving some duties to another role.
For senior roles, a different route may be needed. Our guide on when to use executive search explains when. For the wider hiring process, start with hiring permanent care staff.
If you work with us and the salary, brief or timescale is likely to make the search harder, we will tell you early. That conversation is more useful at the start than three weeks in.
Questions
Is it worth re-advertising the same role?
Only if something has changed: the salary, the pattern, the requirements or where it is advertised. The same advert on the same board usually reaches the same people.
Do signing bonuses help?
They can bring in applications in the short term. They do not fix a salary gap or a working pattern people do not want, and they can cause friction with existing staff. If you use one, set the terms in writing.
How do we find out whether the salary is the problem?
Ask the people who decline offers, the staff who leave and your recruiter. Keep a note of the reasons. After a few conversations, a pattern usually shows.
Sources
This guide covers England unless it says otherwise. It is general information, not legal advice. We review it when the rules change and update the date above.