A new, bespoke employment pathway for refugees

We are delighted to welcome the CareTech Foundation as our newest Breaking Barriers partner. This partnership aims to simultaneously reduce high unemployment rates among refugees and decrease high vacancy rates in the health and social care sector.

We know that the health and social care sector ranks as one of the top sectors in which our clients aspire to work, yet refugees can find it challenging to secure employment. Since pandemic restrictions have eased, some trends in the health and care sector have re-emerged. According to Skills for Care, vacancy rates in England are at 8.2%, which is even higher than their pre-pandemic levels, and 105,000 vacancies are being advertised on average each day. Turnover is also high, at 34.4%.

Many are turning to overseas labour to try to fill these gaps, but this partnership is paving a new way.

To overcome these challenges, Breaking Barriers and the CareTech Foundation have developed a long-term partnership. Activities will include a bespoke recruitment pathway to support refugee clients into employment with social care providers, including CareTech PLC. There will also be a roundtable with stakeholders from across the care sector, a sector-specific best practice guide to engage the care sector and encourage them to take action for refugees, and funding for Breaking Barriers’ employment programmes. Initially piloted in London, the programme will be scaled up nationally.

The partnership has been designed to be long-term and holistic and will support recruitment and retention for frontline jobs, as well as other services such as finance, medicine, HR, logistics, law and marketing.

The CareTech Foundation is an independent grant-making corporate funded and founded by CareTech Holdings PLC. The Foundation delivers meaningful impact to communities in the UK and overseas by supporting and championing the social care sector, care workers and those living in care through our four grant streams.

The CareTech Foundation will be openly sharing everything they learn through the partnership to support and inspire other businesses within the social care sector to unlock the potential of refugees. With sites across the UK, the aim is to scale this work up across the sector.

Jonathan Freeman MBE, CEO of CareTech Foundation says:
“We are delighted to be partnering with Breaking Barriers to work together to create a powerful new employment pathway for refugees into the social care sector. We know that refugees often have the skills and values that would make them perfect for roles in social care, a sector with significant levels of vacancies. So, we very much see this partnership as a win-win for all involved, making sound business sense and delivering a powerful social impact.”

Matt Powell, CEO of Breaking Barriers says:
“Partnerships with businesses are integral to our impact at Breaking Barriers, and this is a win-win opportunity. Refugees will be able to bring their skills to many different roles in with social care providers, and the health and care sector will be able to fill vacancies and reduce turnover with diverse talent. Together with the CareTech Foundation, we look forward to unlocking the potential of refugees across the UK on a grand scale.”

Fiona Potter, Group Human Resources Director (Interim) says:
“CareTech Group are delighted to be working with Breaking Barriers to offer employment opportunities to their clients. Our Resourcing team have had the opportunity of presenting CareTech and interviews have taken place, and we are very pleased to advise that 2 job offers have been made so far. The partnership continues and we hope that more interviews and job offers will follow”.