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Politics
Eleanor K Johnson, NIHR SSCR Research Fellow, School for Social Care Research, University of Bristol

The government wants a 'volunteer army' to save social care – our research shows why that's not possible

NHS NIHR The Department of Health and Social Care United Kingdom
Peter Kindersley/Centre for Ageing Better, CC BY

The UK government is recruiting a volunteer army for social care, to help with the sector’s record-high vacancy rate. There are currently a staggering 165,000 open posts, representing 10.7% of the workforce.

The Volunteer Responders programme, which launched on June 7 2023, builds on the contribution made by thousands of NHS volunteers during lockdown. It even uses the same Good Sam app to enable volunteers to support care staff.

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