What our latest data tells us about social care nursing
20 Oct 2025
3 min read
We look at what the latest data from our 鈥楽tate of the adult social care sector and workforce in England鈥� report tells us about social care nursing.
Number of posts
The social care nursing workforce is growing.
The total number of registered nurse filled posts in the adult social care sector in 2024/25 was 35,000. Most of these (33,000) were in care homes with nursing in the independent sector, and around 1,700 were working for independent sector non-residential care providers.
In addition to registered nurses, in 2024/25 there were 600 nursing associate filled posts.
Registered nurses saw one of the largest proportional increases in filled posts, rising by 5.7% or 1,900 posts between 2023/24 and 2024/25.
This marks the second consecutive year of growth since 2022/23. Previously, the number of registered nurse filled posts had decreased from 37,000 in 2018/19 to 31,000 in 2022/23.
Vacancy, starter and turnover rates
Vacancy rates in nursing are decreasing, however turnover remains high.
There were 2,100 registered nurse vacant posts in 2024/25. Vacancy rates for registered nurses, in the independent sector, have consistently decreased from 14.5% in 2021/22 to 6.7% in 2024/25.
Registered nurses had a relatively high turnover rate (32.8%), equivalent to around 9,700 leavers, compared to other regulated professions such as social workers (12.8%) and occupational therapists (13.5%).
Most registered nurse roles were employed by independent social care providers, where turnover rates are known to be higher social worker and occupational therapist roles were mostly employed within local authorities. For comparison, registered nurses and health visitors in the NHS had a turnover rate of 8.4% as at March 2025 .
High pay rates and career progression opportunities for NHS nurses due to registered nurse pay bandings may influence turnover rates of nurses in adult social care
We estimate that the starter rate in the past 12 months was 27.2%, which equates to approximately 360,000 new starters during 2024/25. This includes people who are new to sector and people who are starting in a new role.
Pay and conditions
The mean FTE annual pay rate for registered nurses in the independent sector was £41,300 in 2024/25.
This average was slightly higher than the 2024/25 NHS Band 5 rates (£29,970 to £36,483) at which newly-qualified nurses start in the NHS, and within 2024/25 NHS Band 6 rates (£37,338 to £44,962).
In independent sector care homes with nursing, registered managers earned more than registered nurses (£45,800 and £41,200 respectively).
Registered nurses in the independent sector saw a nominal pay increase from £39,400 in 2023/24 to £41,300 in 2024/25, an increase of 4.8% in a year. Between 2016/17 and 2024/25, there was a 50.2% increase in annual pay for registered nurses.
The real term (adjusted for inflation) annual pay rates saw an increase from £40,500 in 2023/24 to £41,300 in 2024/25, an increase of 2.0% in a year.
Registered nurses’ real term pay in the independent sector shows an increase of 12.8% between 2016/17 and 2021/22. However, their rate has decreased by 1.2% in real terms between 2021/22 and 2024/25.
Overall, across England aa a whole, when adjusted for inflation registered nurses had a higher real term FTE salary in 2024/25 than in 2016/17.
Demographics
Registered nurses and care workers were the most ethnically diverse job roles, with the lowest proportions of workers of a White ethnicity (47% and 55% respectively).
Nearly a quarter of registered nurses were staff of an Asian or Asian British ethnicity (24%), the highest of all job roles. 24% of workers in registered nurse roles were people of a Black, African, Caribbean or Black British ethnicity. Workers of a mixed or multiple ethnicities and those of ‘other ethnicity’ made up the smallest proportion of the workforce across all job roles in 2024/25, between 0% and 3%.
Registered nursing roles also had the highest proportion of workers with a non-British nationality.
The five most common nationalities of non-British nurses are Indian (22%), Romanian (17%), Philippine (14%), Nigerian (9%) and Zimbabwean (7%).
During the period 2012/13 to 2024/25 nurses have always been able to come to the UK to work but there were periodic changes to immigration rules. From October 2014, the only route to registration for nurses educated outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) region was through the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s two-stage process. This involved significant financial cost and until October 2018, required nurses from outside the EEA to work for at least 12 months after qualifying before they could apply to come and work in the UK.
The proportion of registered nurses with an EU nationality rose by nine percentage points from 8% in 2012/13 to 17% in 2016/17. Meanwhile the proportion of registered nurses with a non-EU nationality decreased by 12 percentage points from 31% in 2012/13 to 19% in 2016/17.
Since the introduction of new immigration rules on 1 January 2021, nurses from EU and non-EU countries can immigrate to the UK, providing they have a job offer from a licensed sponsor, meet the salary criteria and can speak English to the required standard. Following this change, the proportion of registered nurses with a non-EU nationality has increased by 10 percentage points between 2020/21 and 2024/25, from 20% to 30%. Meanwhile, the proportion of EU registered nurses has remained steady, with a small decrease of 3 percentage points from 16% to 13%.
In 2024/25, gender proportions varied amongst job roles across the adult social care workforce; however, the majority of workers in each role were female. In particular, males were much less likely to work in a registered nurse role, accounting for only 15% of registered nurse roles.
Nearly three in five workers in the adult social care workforce are aged over 40. From a workforce planning perspective, workers aged 55 and over could retire in the next 10 years. One of the job roles with the highest proportion of older workers is registered nurses at 33%.
Experience in role
Within regulated profession roles, registered nurses had the most experience in the sector with 17.8 years, compared to 9.5 years for social workers and 10.5 years for occupational therapists.
However, registered nurses had an average of 4.7 years of experience in their current role; this was amongst the lowest levels of all the job roles. This is likely a result of the relatively high turnover rate for registered nurses and indicates that many nurses have moved between employers in the social care sector
Looking at longer term career routes, workers in regulated professions can progress up the pay scale within their individual roles and were also observed to move into manager posts. Registered nurses generally progressed to registered manager roles, whilst social workers and occupational therapists moved into management roles within their local authority.
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