Staff Vacancies in Adult Disability Homes and Day Activity Centres

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what is the current number of staff vacancies in Adult Disability Homes (ADHs) and Day Activity Centres (DACs); (b) what are the challenges faced by social service agencies in filling these vacancies; (c) whether the manpower shortage has impacted their operations and, if so, how; and (d) what is the feedback from caregivers and clients about the service quality of ADHs and DACs.

A March 2022 survey found that Adult Disability Homes (ADHs) and Day Activity Centres (DACs) have plans to fill some 200 vacancies. This includes additional staff supported by the increase in funding to ADHs by 25% ($6 million) per year from July 2021 and to DACs by 20% ($3 million) per year from October 2021, to enable them to hire more care staff and increase their quality of care.

The National Council of Social Services (NCSS) regularly reviews and publishes salary guidelines for the social service sector. This information helps social service agencies to set competitive salaries to attract and retain good staff. Nonetheless, there remain concerns about career prospects, salaries and working environment.

To encourage more people to join the social service sector, the Career Conversion Programmes provide funding support for mid-career professionals from other sectors to acquire relevant skills and become social workers and allied health professionals1. NCSS also launched the Social Service Tribe in 2018 to increase public awareness and career interest by communicating the values of the sector, highlighting the work carried out by sector professionals and sharing career opportunities and pathways.

In our FY2021 survey on caregiver satisfaction with ADH services, 92.3% of caregivers gave a rating of 3.5 and above out of 5. We plan to survey DAC clients from FY2022.