Oxfordshire Adult Social Care Workforce Strategy
This Strategy sets out Oxfordshire County Council's plan to build and maintain a skilled, confident, inclusive, and motivated adult social care workforce capable of meeting rising demand and increasing complexity of care needs between 2026 and 2028.
The overarching aim is to ensure people in Oxfordshire can live independent, fulfilling lives, connected to their communities, supported by a workforce that delivers high-quality, person-centred care. The Strategy supports the Council's ambition to move from a service-led model to a person- and community-led approach.
Oxfordshire faces significant challenges:
- Growing and ageing population
- Rising demand for adult social care
- Increasing complexity of needs, including dementia and long-term conditions
- Recruitment and retention difficulties
- High housing costs and transport barriers
- Reduced access to international recruitment
- Preparation for Local Government Reorganisation (LGR)
Key projections
- People aged 65+ expected to increase by a further 25% by 2030
- Dementia prevalence projected to rise by 31%
- Long-term illness among older adults expected to increase by 24-28%
Oxfordshire's adult social care workforce consists of approximately 19,000 filled posts:
- 78% employed by independent sector providers
- 4.8% employed by Oxfordshire County Council
- 4.3% employed by Direct Payment employers
- Over 800 Personal Assistants support direct payment recipients
Strategic objectives
The Strategy aims to:
- Secure a sufficient and skilled workforce
- Improve workforce stability and reduce dependency on agency and overseas recruitment
- Promote fair work, inclusion, and ethical recruitment
- Support new models of care focused on prevention and independence
- Meet CQC workforce and quality expectations
Three strategic themes
1. Attract & Recruit
Focus on growing a diverse local workforce by:
- Strengthening recruitment pipelines
- Improving onboarding and retention
- Reducing agency reliance
- Widening entry routes through apprenticeships, schools, colleges, and work experience
- Increasing awareness of adult social care careers
- Supporting ethical international recruitment while reducing long-term dependence on it
2. Train & Retain
Focus on developing and retaining staff through:
- Increased access to training and funding
- Stronger workforce intelligence and planning
- Improved skills in safeguarding, reablement, dementia care, mental capacity, trauma-informed practice, and multi-disciplinary working
- Clear career pathways and apprenticeships
- Strengthening the Social Work Academy
- Building digital skills
- Improving wellbeing, inclusion, supervision, and employee experience
- Delivering Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) actions
3. Innovate & Transform
Focus on preparing the workforce for future service models by:
- Improving workforce data and planning
- Using technology and digital tools more effectively
- Testing innovative approaches with partners
- Strengthening leadership and supervision
- Supporting teams through organisational change and LGR
- Embedding continuous professional development, coaching, and reflective practice
A new Workforce Steering Group will oversee delivery, bringing together representatives from Adult Social Care, HR, Finance, and partner organisations. The group will monitor progress, review workforce intelligence, and coordinate action across the system. At present, it is not clear what will happen beyond this Strategy after disaggregation of Oxfordshire County Council under LGR.
The Strategy will be considered successful if it achieves:
- Lower vacancy and turnover rates
- Better retention
- Stronger workforce diversity
- Improved wellbeing and employee experience
- Reduced inequalities in progression and supervision
- Positive CQC assurance outcomes
- Better workforce contribution to prevention and care outcomes
- Services delivered within budget and prepared for LGR
- Improved experiences for people receiving care and support
The Strategy is a whole-system plan to ensure Oxfordshire has enough skilled, diverse, well-supported social care staff to meet growing care demands, improve quality and outcomes, and successfully navigate major organisational changes through to 2028.
The Strategy will be published shortly.
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