Barriers and facilitators to ex-service personnel obtaining employment within social care roles with older people: a scoping review

This purpose of this paper is to review evidence about the barriers and facilitators to ex-service personnel obtaining employment within social care roles. Social care has long-standing, well-recognised problems of staff recruitment and retention. Policymakers and employers are exploring if there are untapped sources of potential employees. Some ex-service personnel may be interested in exploring a move to social care work with older people but may face barriers to such a move which may need to be addressed.

Databases and grey literature were searched systematically to provide an overview of evidence on this topic. In total, 23 articles were included in the review.

A narrative analysis revealed barriers to ex-service personnel obtaining employment within social care not only related to their previous occupation, health status and identity but also facilitators related to the sector’s severe recruitment challenges and the transferable skills of ex-service personnel. Evidence suggests that learning from health services may be highly relevant and transferable.

This review was confined to English language studies published between 2008 and 2018. Few mentioned specific user or client groups.

This review identified evidence suggesting that learning from health services may be highly relevant and transferable to the social care sector so as to facilitate the transition of more ex-service personnel into social care work with older people.