Social care vacancies in the North East have risen by almost 50% - with a new report highlighting the scale of the growing crisis in the sector.
The organisation Skills for Care - which is the workforce body advising care employers and the Government on the recruitment, training and development of staff - has analysed data showing there are currently around 7,500 vacancies in the region.
The data shows that across 600 organisations, the mean hourly pay for workers in the independent sector in the North East was just £9.43.
