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A new joint initiative has been launched by Health and Social Care, Employment and Social Security, and private homes, to get people matched with jobs in the care sector.
The 'Pathway to Caring' will give training opportunities to people wanting to get into caring roles.
The plan is to get people who aren't currently working on to training courses so they can achieve a Care Certificate which is an agreed set of standards that define the knowledge, skills, and behaviours expected when working in the health and social care sectors.
It's a free, seven week, part time course and is intended to be suitable for anyone looking for either full or part-time work. There are no specific course requirements for level of educational background, but an enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) disclosure is needed.
Elaine Burgess, Director of Care Delivery, hopes it will be successful.
“Working within the care sector provides vital support for many people and is rewarding work for those delivering the care," she said.
"The Pathway to Caring course is a wonderful opportunity for those looking to enter work within a health or social care setting, and it is anticipated that candidates who pass the Care Certificate qualification will be able to access flexible employment options and future training.
"If this new course is successful, the aim is to run further courses and provide placements across the whole care sector.”
The course starts in early April, with the final four weeks involving practical work in a clinical setting. The Job Centre has further details and applications must be in by the end of February.
Recruitment in Guernsey has been difficult since the immediate post-pandemic era, and despite changes to the population management system there remains a higher number of vacancies than people out of work with multiple sectors struggling to fill roles.
The latest available statistics show there were 287 people unemployed at the end of December (down 15 from November), while yesterday there were 286 vacancies advertised across the States of Guernsey and via the Job centre, both on gov.gg. That figure does not include any jobs advertised elsewhere.
However, the health and social care sectors are known to have been struggling to recruit - both in the public and private sectors - since before the pandemic.
In 2019 an Express headline read "the staffing crisis deepens" while the same year Blossom Fields care home shut amid "general difficulties in recruiting suitably qualified staff".
In 2022 the "care home crisis (was) getting worse" we reported.
The same year the States warned that people needing health and care support in their own homes faced cuts in services as public finances and recruitment challenges bit.
In late 2022 it was announced that community care was to be reduced for 55 individuals and withdrawn completely from seven people with "a combination of staff shortages, increasing demand and greater complexity of care required by the island's ageing population" all blamed.
At the time, the Committee for Health and Social Care said its carers were "exhausted" trying to cope with increases in demand and the more complex needs their patients had.
Private sector care homes have also struggled to fill vacancies and meet demand with the States taking over the running of St Johns Residential Home last year "to ensure it can stay open, and care for its residents to the standards they need and expect".
The former managers of St Johns said at the time that it was a "difficult decision" but one made for the best outcome for the residents.
Pay for workers within the residential care sector varies - with some roles paying minimum wage (currently £10.65 per hour) and others paying upwards of £17 per hour. As with the public sector, bank and agency workers can earn a higher hourly wage but are not remunerated with the same package and contractual benefits.
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