The care industry needs more male recruits, here’s how we’re helping

Eyad Hanash, from the Embark Learning Care Academy, discusses how his organisation are addressing gender stereotypes in social care to help boost workers’ confidence and solve the ongoing vacancy crisis. 

When you think of a carer, what gender are you imaging? It’s probably a woman as unfortunately, like many other positions, the care sector has wrongfully been branded as a ‘feminine’ career, however we at Embark Learning Care Academy (ELCA) are working to change that.

I’m the head of operations at ELCA – an established training provider, which helps carers, new or fully qualified, achieve nationally recognised qualifications for free. Our organisation, which was set up in the summer of 2011, has generated huge interest and produced a number of success stories across the West Midlands, regardless of people’s gender. Currently, I would say three quarters of the applicants we have are women, but we are beginning to see an increase in men on our courses and this continues to grow every year. 

Recent statistics from Skills for Care spurred us to start working to break down the gender barriers social care faces. Experts discovered that people who identify as male are currently underrepresented in the care industry, making up only 18% of the workforce. 

For years, we have been trying to break down the ingrained stereotypes and deeply entrenched perceptions of health and social care as ‘work for women’ by encouraging more males into the sector through our various recruitment approaches. One example of this is our Step into Care programme, which was funded by the West Midlands Combined Authority. This year, the ratio of male to female is currently 27%, which is 9% above the national average. This is an increase of 5% on last year.

Vacancy rates 

At ELCA, and our recruitment partners, Fairway Homecare, we believe that not only would more male recruits boost men’s confidence to join the sector if they want to, but it would also help address the severe capacity shortages in social care. Research from the Kings Fund found that between 2021/22 and 2022/23, the vacancy rate fell from 10.7% to 9.9% and the number of vacancies dropped from 165,000 to 152,000. Experts highlighted that there was a continued gap between the vacancy rate in adult social care, the wider unemployment rate (3.9%), and the vacancy rate in the wider economy (3.4%).

Case Study

We have worked with hundreds of men who now have a successful career in care, one such success story is David, who had to quit work to become a full-time carer for his father, who was diagnosed with dementia alongside his mother who was severely disabled. He cared for his parents for more than 10 years, but they both unfortunately passed away within a year of each other. 

Following his tragic loss, David was unsure what his next steps were until he stumbled on Embark at a local job fair. So, he signed up for the course and excelled during his training, supported by his trainers, as well as the other students on the course. Once David completed his training, he went to an interview with Fairway, who found and secured him employment, where he still grows in his skillset, confidence and happiness in the role he has found. David is just one of the many success stories we’ve had with men who have taken part in our courses, they don’t think of it as a woman’s job, they just see it as a rewarding career that they can be happy in. 

Overall, I think as an industry, we need to continue to share these stories with men being happy and successful in their care roles and perhaps we can change the perception around care workers primarily being women, it’s for anyone who wants an uplifting and satisfying job.

Images: ELCA

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