Who works in social care?

Workers in social care are not always social workers, although they can be. But other people who use social care also include those who bring the meals on wheels, visit older people throughout the day to see to their personal needs, or work as staff in care homes.

Overall, 1 in 25 of the national working population works in the social care sector.

Then, just as importantly, there are carers. Carers look after family or friends who are ill and the care they provide is unpaid. In Britain, there are around six million unpaid carers and the service they provide saves the country £57 billion a year. It is thought that three out of five people in the UK will become carers at some time in the lives.