Breaking Barriers is a specialist charity that supports refugees into meaningful employment with advice, experience and education. It has found that the health and social care sector ranks as one of the top sectors in which their clients aspire to work.
Back in 2022, the health and social care sector consistently ranked as one of the top sectors in which Breaking Barriers clients aspired to work, yet refugees were often finding it challenging to secure employment.
At the same time, according to Skills for Care, vacancy rates in the care sector in England were at 8.2%, with 105,000 vacancies advertised on average each day. Turnover was also high, at 34.4%.
Breaking Barriers and the CareTech Foundation launched a new partnership to simultaneously reduce high unemployment rates among refugees and decrease high vacancy rates and turnover in the health and social care sector.
Funding from the CareTech Foundation helped Breaking Barriers to grow their employment support for refugees in London.
During our two year partnership, we supported 875 people of refugee background in total across the capital, over 40% of whom progressed in employment, education, volunteering or training. 90% told us they had more confidence and motivation to achieve their goals, and 87% had a greater understanding of their preferred job sector.
Almost 50 people of a refugee background took part in activities, such as insight sessions to upskill the Breaking Barriers team and clients in how the health and social care industry works, workshops on how to succeed in this sector, and two bespoke recruitment pathways in London and Manchester. Over 50% of the refugees who took part have already achieved employment, education or training in the health and social care sector.
The CareTech Foundation have also been vocal in advocating for change and sharing best practice via the Business Behind Refugees movement. Over the past two years, more than 50 clients have gained employment in the health and social care sector, a significant increase on previous years. This is a strong indicator that the work we have been doing to build foundations for change is already achieving success.
"'Working with CareTech to support our refugee clients has opened my eyes to the health and social care sector. I have learned so much about what applicants need to be successful. Seeing many of our clients engage with CareTech events and then go on to find employment or continue their education in health care has been so rewarding. Working with CareTech employees has been insightful and I know our clients have learned so much and so have I!"
"Working with Breaking Barriers has provided us a unique perspective to work with an organisation that champions something that lies at the Foundation’s core. The recognition of skills and experience refugees can bring to the health and social care sector when given the opportunity is profound. This two year partnership has showcased our commitment to addressing social care’s vacancy problem, and we are hugely proud of our impact together. As well as the individuals we have seen accessing jobs, the impact of what we’ve learnt together has real value beyond our partnership – and we hope this is just the start for our sector."
