U.K. Care Workers, Lecturers and Doctors Prove Harder to Retain

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U.K. unions say austerity is driving people out professions such as teaching but figures published Monday reveal a varied picture across the public sector.

Retention rates among workers on the government payroll fell marginally between 2012-13 and 2016-17 to 84%, yet remained higher than in the private sector.

Rates were lowest among care workers, where only 67% were in the same profession in both 2016 and 2017. That’s down from 79% four years earlier. The Office for National Statistics said the decline may reflect workers moving to the private sector.

Also harder to keep were social workers, nursing assistants, university lecturers, doctors and teachers, though retention rates across these professions still averaged around 85%, higher than the U.K. workforce as a whole.

Rates among police officers, nurses and midwives averaged 93%, down only slightly compared with 2012-13, while 92% of heads of educational establishments were in the same profession two years running -- a jump from 82% in 2012-13.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Atkinson in London at a.atkinson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Brian Swint, David Goodman

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