Cornwall: Events held in attempt to boost care sector staff

The event in Penzance hosted a number of different agencies within the care sector

Recruitment events are being held in an attempt to encourage more people to consider a career in the care sector.

There are 15,000 jobs in the sector in Cornwall, according to the Proud to Care Cornwall campaign.

The group said more than one in 10 of those positions were currently vacant.

At at a recruitment event in Penzance on Thursday, Carolyn Montgomerie, from Proud to Care, said 400 jobs were lost after the pandemic, and said the sector was "still struggling" to recover.

Carolyn Montgomerie said there had been a slight increas in the number of people applying for jobs in the sector

Ms Montgomerie added: "We hear from our colleagues in the provider sector that the green shoots of recovery are there.

"They talked in the past about having had nobody reply to their adverts, and now we're starting to get a trickle of people actually applying from the adverts and they are being appointed."

Former support worker Tracey Fanson attended the event in Penzance and said she was "impressed" with what she had heard.

Ms Fanson said: "I think people still think that the pay rate isn't there, but it is, and there is a lot of incentives."