Results of a Care Locker Freedom of Information request made to the Department of Health

1. The Care Locker
FOI Request
Response received to FOI Request by Claire Thompson, CEO
December 2015
http: www.carelocker.co.uk

2. The question
• “With regard to recent concerns raised about the use of agency
staff in the care and nursing sector:
• - how many employed carers and nurses are there in England?
• - how many people work as temporary staff, or as bank
workers, in the sector?
• - What was the spend in England?
•
• Ideally we would include private sector spend in this figure, as
they too are affected and have a huge role in care provision.”

3. 377, 191 qualified nursing
staff in England
• Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre
(HSCIC) on March 25, 2015
• (The Department of Health does not collect data centrally
on how many people work as temporary agency staff or
bank workers)

4. 100, 000 healthcare
assistants;
& 1.2 million social care
support workers
• Source: NHS Electronic Staff Record, managed by HSCIC
and National Minimum Dataset
• (The Department of Health does not collect data centrally
on how many people work as temporary agency staff or
bank workers)

5. Spend on temporary staff,
2014/2015: £3.3 billion
• Source: Department of Health Accounts
• (The Department of Health does not collect data on
private sector expenditure on agency staff)

6. With thanks to the
Freedom of Information
Team at The Department
of Health
• Claire Thompson
• The Care Locker
• E: claire’carelocker.co.uk
• M: +44 (0) 7771 817015