London’s Health and Social Care Sector
A labour market analysis
Exploring the Mayor of London’s priority sectors.
March 2025
Introduction
The Health and Social Care sector is vital to both ensuring a healthy population and a strong economy. As one of London’s largest employers, it supports jobs across all skill levels and is a key enabler of economic growth. By supporting a productive workforce and reducing long-term healthcare costs, it underpins both prosperity and social well-being. With demand for health and care services anticipated to rise in the future alongside an aging society, its role will only become more important over time.
The purpose of this report is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the sector’s key labour market trends and characteristics, considering a wide range of indicators. By examining the sector’s performance through an array of lenses and comparing it to other industries and regions, this analysis aims to offer valuable insights for strategic planning and support evidence-based policy making across London.
This report is divided into 7 sections, each analysing a different facet of the sector and its workforce.
- People in Work: Explores how many jobs are in the sector and how employment has evolved over time.
- Worker Characteristics: Examines the professional and demographic traits of workers in the sector.
- Job Quality: Provides insights into earnings and the overall quality of jobs within the sector.
- Businesses: Investigates the profile and economic contribution of the sector’s businesses.
- Demand: Analyses how employer recruitment activity for sector-specific roles is changing.
- Skills Needs: Identifies the specific skills that employers within the sector are seeking.
- Education and Training: Reviews the provision of education and training relevant to the sector.
An FAQ guide has also been published alongside this report to help users navigate its contents.
Definitions: All definitions used in this report related to the sector - including industries, occupations and subject areas - are set out in the definitions and additional resources section, at the end of this report.
Data: Links to the raw underlying data are included under each respective chart(s), where the data used is publicly available. The data included in this report refers to the latest annual data available at the time of publication but may vary by data source and is subject to revision.
Section 1: People in Work
How many jobs are in the sector, and how might it change over time?
What’s in this section?
➤ Overview ➤ Headline trends of people working in the sector ➤ Sub-sector composition of employment ➤ Numbers working in key occupations ➤ Industry projections (2025-2035)
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Section 1: Overview
This section explores job trends in the health and social care sector and its sub-industries, highlights key occupations, and examines regional job growth forecasts for the sector.
Strong employment growth: The number of jobs in London’s health and social care sector has grown strongly over the past decade, accelerating during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, the sector accounted for 662,500 jobs — an 11.9% increase compared to its 2019 pre-pandemic level – and equivalent to 10.4% of all jobs in the capital.
Key sub-industries and occupations: The largest sub-industry — human health activities — accounts for 64% of the sector’s employment. Key occupations reflect this, with care, nursing and a wide range of highly skilled medical professionals among the largest roles in terms of job numbers.
Slower future growth projections: The NFER anticipates slower growth for the sector, forecasting a 0.2% annual increase in employment from 2025 to 2035. While this projected growth rate is lower than that of other industries in London, it is important to note their inherent uncertainty and how they can vary considerably depending on the underlying assumptions.
Headline job trends in the sector
Steady job number growth: In 2023, London’s health and social care sector accounted for approximately 662,500 jobs — a 11.9% increase compared to its 2019 pre-COVID level of 592,100. The number of jobs in the sector have increased steadily over time, outpacing the sector’s growth in other UK regions.
Pandemic increases: Despite the severe labour market disruption caused in other parts of the economy by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the health and social care sector saw strong increases in employment. This was driven by the sharp rise in demand for its services to manage the public health crisis and also its need to comply with social distancing guidance.
Stable shares of regional and sectoral employment: The share of total UK health and social care jobs located in London has remained broadly stable in recent years, standing at 14% as of 2023 – 4 percentage points lower than share of all other industries in the capital. Similarly, the sectors share of total jobs in London has also remained quite stable since 2010, accounting for 10% of total jobs compared to 14% in the other parts of the UK. Combined, these figures suggest that while the health and social care sector is certainly important to London, it does not employ a disproprotionate share of the sector relative to other regions or relative to its own overall workforce size.
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The Annual Population Survey (APS) is a continuous household survey covering the UK, with the aim of providing estimates between censuses of main social and labour market variables at a local area level. The APS is not a stand-alone survey but uses data combined from two waves of the main Labour Force Survey (LFS) with data collected on a local sample boost. It provides a measure of the number of people in work which differs from the concept of jobs, since a person can have more than one job and some jobs may be shared by more than one person. As such, it is the preferred measure of employment and the associated characteristics of workers, including demographics, educational attainment, and occupation.
- Bespoke APS dataset: As part of this research into the Mayor of London’s priority sectors, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published bespoke APS tables for the GLA according to specific sector (SIC) definitions and using the region of work to assign the location of each job rather than the respondents’ region of residence. The number of jobs reported in this analysis using the APS is also the sum of main jobs and second jobs, so the figures may not represent the number of people by industry.
- Increased LFS uncertainty: Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been ongoing challenges with LFS response rates which have caused increased uncertainty and volatility in the production of its more granular labour market statistics. As such, LFS-based labour market statistics are currently considered ‘official statistics in development’ until further review. Because of the increased volatility of LFS figures, estimates should be treated with additional caution and are subject to revision. APS statistics are, however, still considered ‘accredited official statistics’, although uncertainty within the LFS may have some volatility implications for the APS, particularly for detailed breakdowns at regional levels.
- Workforce Jobs (WFJ) is a quarterly measure of jobs in the UK and is the preferred measure of short-term employment change by industry (SIC 1-digit only), since it provides a more reliable industry breakdown than the LFS. The number of jobs measured are the sum of employee jobs, self-employment jobs, government-supported trainees, and His Majesty’s Forces. The estimates are compiled from several sources, including Short Term Employer Surveys (STES), the Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey (QPSES), and the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Note: Given that WFJ can also display a high degree of volatility quarter-to-quarter, the figures in this report are presented as the annual averages.
- The Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) is an annual survey of around 87,000 businesses across the UK. It provides employee and employment estimates at detailed geographic and industrial levels and is considered the primary source for employee estimates at a detailed workplace, regional, and industrial level. In terms of coverage, its employment estimates are the sum of employees and working owners but do not include those self-employed or agency workers who do not pay VAT or PAYE, and so may underestimate the true number of people working in some sectors.
Sub-sector composition
- Dominant sub-industries: In 2023, human health activities accounted approximately 64% of employment in the sector, equivalent to 399,000 jobs in London, the majority of which are related to hospital activities (250,000). Human health has consistently been the largest sub-industry within London’s health and social care sector by some margin, followed by social work activities without accommodation, which accounts for 25% of overall sector employment.
People working in key occupations
Understanding the health and social care sector requires both industry and occupational perspectives. While the industry view focuses on business activities (above), the occupational lens (below) sheds light on the key roles and skills driving the sector.
Care and nursing roles dominate: In terms of job numbers, the largest occupation closely related to the health and social care sector is care workers and home carers. A typically lower skill occupation, they alone account for 15% (85,000) of all those people employed in sector-related occupations in London. These are followed by general nursing professionals (40,500) and nursing auxiliaries and assistants (34,000).
Professional expertise: Among the other largest occupations are a wide range of professional medical roles, including GPs, specialist medical practitioners, pharmacists and social workers.
While industry-based analysis (Standard Industrial Classification - SIC) is essential to understanding a sector’s labour market performance, granular occupation data (Standard Occupational Classification - SOC) can offer further complimentary insights, particularly in relation to a sector’s skill needs and make-up.
To support the identification of specific sector-relevant SOC 4-digit occupations for each of the Mayor’s priority sectors, GLA Economics used Lightcast’s ‘staffing pattern matrix’ - which combines BRES and LFS microdata to produce an occupational make-up of an industry. GLA Economics then selected those occupations that were either found to be highly concentrated in, or specific to, that sector. For example, the vast majority of carpenters are identified as working in construction industries.
In doing this, more general occupations - such as sales, business administration and many customer service roles - which are typically employed in large numbers across London’s industries were excluded from the analysis. It should be noted however, that any given occupation may be employed in a range of sectors, and as such, an occupation included in one sector (e.g. creative) may also be relevant to another (e.g. construction). Therefore there are likely to be some occupational overlaps between priority sector areas in terms of key occupations.
The occupations identified as part of this exercise are the same as those used to employer demand and skills needs from job postings in Section 5 and Section 6 of this report.
The full list of sector-relevant SOC occupations is also available in the definitions and additional resources section, at the end of this report.
Projected change in industry job numbers (2025 - 2035)
Slower growth projected: According to the latest projections from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) and their Skills Imperative 2035 research, health and social care employment in London is expected to experience slower growth in the future. Job numbers in the health and social care sector are expected to grow by an average of 0.2% annually between 2025 and 2035, adding around 10,000 jobs over this period.
Slower than average: This anticipated growth falls behind the 0.5% average annual growth forecast for all other industries in London, in large part driven to the projected decline of the residential care and social work sub-industries.
Inherent uncertainty: However, as with all projection models, there is a considerable degree of inherent uncertainty and therefore models which use alternative assumptions may indicate considerably different trends. Analysis by GLA Economics (2022) for example, projected that in London the health and social care sector would in fact have amongst the highest annual growth rates in employment between 2019-2051.
The labour market projections produced by Institute for Employment Research (IER) and Cambridge Econometrics (CE) for The Skills Imperative 2035 are inherently uncertain due to the complexities of forecasting long-term trends. Developed in 2021/22, they try to account for existing technological and environmental trends. However, they can not capture unforeseen future events and were created during a period of considerable economic uncertainty following Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. As forecasting involves judgment and assumptions, uncertainties increase over longer timeframes, particularly at local levels. Therefore, these projections should not be used for precise workforce planning but rather as broad benchmarks to inform policy and strategic discussions.
For more information see General Guidelines for The Skills Imperative 2035: Occupational Outlook – Long-run employment prospects for the UK.
Section 2: Worker Characteristics
What are the professional and demographic characteristics of those working in the sector?
What’s in this section?
➤ Overview ➤ Demographics (incl. detailed breakdowns) ➤ Types of occupations in the sector ➤ Highest level of educational attainment ➤ Employment status (employee vs. self-employment) ➤ Employee type (full-time vs. part-time) ➤ Geographic distribution (sub-regional partnerships)
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Section 2: Overview
Demographic characteristics: The health and social care workforce is slowly ageing, female-dominated, ethnically diverse, and employs marginally more people with a disability than the rest of London’s economy.
Reliance on foreign-born workers: The sector is reliant on foreign-born labour, with 11% of workers from the EU and a further 38% from the rest of the world. This dependence has steadily grown over time, particularly for workers from non-EU countries.
Professionals dominate: Professional workers account for 43% of the health and social care workforce in London in 2023, compared to 32% in all other industries.
Education and qualification gaps: Health and social care sector workers in London are more likely to hold a degree (67%) compared to other industries (63%).
Lower prevalence of self-employment: Self-employment is lower in the health and social care sector, with 12% of workers being self-employed, compared to 18% across other London industries.
Relatively high prevalence of part-time employments: 68% of workers in the health and social care sector are employed in full-time positions compared to 76% in all other industries in London.
Sub-sector differences: Workers in London’s healthcare subsector, are typically more likely to be older, UK-born, work in professional roles, have higher levels of educational attainment and be in full-time employment compared to their social care counterparts, although overall trends are similar.
Demographic characteristics
Detailed demographic breakdowns
- Aging workforce: The health and social care sector workforce in London is slowly ageing. The proportion of young employees (16-29) has gradually declined to around 14%-16% over recent years and has consistently been outnumbered by those workers in the older age group (50+) who account for more than 32%.
- Benchmark comparison: In comparison to other industries in London, health and social care employs fewer young people (14% vs. 21%). When compared to the health and social care sector in other regions of the UK, London also has a similar age profile, albeit more concentrated among prime working age adults.
- Sub-sector comparison: Those in London’s social care sector have an older age profile than in healthcare.
Broad occupational composition of industry
Professional and caring occupations dominate: Professional occupations accounted for 43% of health and social care jobs in London in 2023, compared to 32% across all other industries in the capital. Caring roles accounted for a further 23%.
Recent increases in professionalisation: While overall occupational trends have stayed largely stable over the past decade, in recent years there has been a slight increase in the share of workers employed in managerial, professional or associate professional roles. At the same time, gradual declines have been observed in both caring and administrative roles. This suggests that the sector in London is becoming more higher skill-oriented over time.
London vs. UK comparison: The occupational mix in London’s health and social care sector is broadly similar to the rest of the UK, though London has proportionately more managerial and professional workers and fewer caring roles compared to other UK regions.
Sub-sector comparison: In terms of occupational mix, there are sharp differences between subsectors, with healthcare dominated by high-skill professional roles (60%) compared to just 20% in social care.
Highest level of educational attainment
Rising educational attainment: London’s health and social care workforce has become increasingly educated over time, with the share of workers holding a degree or equivalent rising from around 50% in the early 2010’s to almost 67% as of 2023.
Above the London average: Health and social care workers in London are more likely to hold degree-level qualifications than those in other industries (67% vs 63%). This gap reflects the sector’s heavy reliance on professional occupations, which typically require advanced higher education qualifications.
London vs. other UK regions: Compared to the rest of the UK, London’s health and social care workforce is more highly educated, with 49% of workers holding a degree or equivalent across other UK regions. This difference may highlight London’s relative sector specialisation in professional and managerial functions.
Sub-sector comparison: Reflecting the sharp differences in their occupational mix (above), there are also considerable differences between the subsectors in terms of workers highest level of educational attainment. While both are higher than for the sector as a whole in other regions, those working in healthcare are much more likely to hold a degree or equivalent (76%) compared to those in social care (53%).
Highest level of education groupings:
Degree or equivalent: Includes higher education degrees such a Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s Degree, DPhil/PhD and Degree level Apprenticeships (RQF level 6+ qualifications).
Higher Education: Includes higher vocational qualifications such as Higher National Diplomas / Certificates (HND/HNC) and Foundational Degrees (RQF level 5 qualifications).
GCE, A-levels or equivalent: Includes A-levels or equivalent, AS-levels, International Baccalaureate, and Advanced/Higher level Apprenticeships (RQF level 3-4 qualifications).
GCSE grades A*-C or equivalent: Includes O-Level/GCSE Grades A*-C and equivalents, and Intermediate Apprenticeships (RQF level 2 qualifications).
Other qualifications: GCSE < Grade C and equivalents, Entry-level Qualifications, Key / Core / Essential/ Functional Skills and Other qualifications (RQF level 1 and below qualifications).
No qualification: No qualification recorded.
Further information on the specific qualifications included in each education grouping can be found here (pg.336-339) using the mapping here (pg.26).
Employment status
Lower prevalence of self-employment: In London’s health and social care sector, 12% of workers are self-employed as of 2023, notably lower than the 18% average across all industries in the capital. While self-employment offers greater flexibility in work hours, it often comes with less job security and limited benefits compared to full-time employment. This lower rate is likely due to the structure of the sector, where the NHS — London’s dominant healthcare provider — employs the majority of professionals. Additionally, strict regulatory requirements, high operational costs, and the team-based nature of many roles make self-employment less common in this field.
London vs. other UK regions: Self-employment is slightly more prevalent in London’s health and social care sector (12%) compared to the rest of the UK, where 7% of health and social care workers are self-employed.
Sub-sector comparison: Those working in healthcare are slightly more likely to be self-employed compared to social care, albeit still less than the London average.
Employee type
Prevalence of full-time employment: 68% of workers in London’s health and social care sector are in full-time positions within an organisation, with trends remaining largely stable over time.
Comparison with other industries: The share of full-time employees in the health and social care sector is lower than that of other industries in London (76%). In part, this lower share may be driven by workers balancing public (including the NHS) and private practice employments side-by-side.
London vs. other UK regions: Compared to the health and social care sector in other UK regions however, London’s sector has a higher share of full-time employment (68% vs 59%).
Sub-sector comparison: Those working in healthcare are slightly less likely to be in part-time employment compared to social care, albeit still less than the London average.
Geographic distribution
Central London dominance: Approximately 51% of health and social care jobs in London are located within the Central London Forward sub-regional partnership (SRP). Since at least 2010, this area has consistently accounted for over half of the sector’s jobs.
Business location concentration: The high concentration of health and social care jobs in Central London aligns with the fact that many businesses and hospitals are located in this area.
Sub-regional employment concentration: From a sub-regional employment perspective, the health and social care sector represented the largest share of total jobs in the West London Alliance SRP, accounting for 15% of total jobs in the area. In contrast and despite having the highest absolute number of sector jobs, Central London Forward’s share constituted only 12% of total jobs within its area, the lowest of any SRP.
While interpreting these findings, it is important to remember that many of the jobs located within London may be held by people who reside outside of the capital, or outside of the SRP in which their workplace is located.
The City of London and each of London’s 32 boroughs are members of one of four sub-regional partnerships (SRPs) in the capital. These SRPs serve a vital administrative function within local government by convening key stakeholders to collaboratively address London’s strategic economic and social issues, including skills, employment, infrastructure, and land use.
London’s Four SRPs:Section 3: Job Quality
What are the earnings and quality of jobs in the sector?
What’s in this section?
➤ Overview ➤ Hourly industry earnings ➤ Annual advertised salaries for key occupations ➤ Additional job quality indicators
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Section 3: Overview
Sector earning close to London median and tracking inflation: Median nominal hourly earnings in London’s health and social care industry have steadily increased since 2017, reaching £21.05 as of 2024, considerably higher than the national average for the sector and broadly similar to the median earnings across all industries in London. Nominal earnings growth however for the sector in London has only just kept pace with price inflation in recent years, resulting in smaller real term gains than in other sectors.
Higher salaries for professional roles: Derived from job postings, managerial and professional medical occupations – such as specialist medical practitioners, pharmacists and nurses – tend to command the highest advertised salaries. In comparison, care and early years occupations typically offer much lower advertised salaries albeit still slightly above the London Living Wage.
Negative job quality indicators for social care: London’s social care sector performs relatively poorly on key job quality measures compared to healthcare and all other industries. This is particularly apparent in terms of pay, opportunities for progression and unpaid overtime.
Earnings and advertised salaries
Industry earnings
Steady earnings growth: Median nominal hourly earnings in London’s health and social care industry have grown gradually since 2017, reaching £21.05 per hour in 2024.
Higher than national averages: Median earnings in London’s health and social care sector are considerably higher than the UK health and social care average (£16.92), and slightly lower than London’s overall median earnings across all industries (£21.87).
Earnings variation by occupation: While overall earnings in the health and social care sector are relatively close to the London median, there is likely significant variation by specific occupation, with some roles earning considerably more than others (see section below).
Tracking inflation: When adjusted for inflation, median real earnings in London’s health and social care sector as of 2024 have increased by approximately 1.7% compared to 2015. This increase lags the 5.6% real wage growth observed across all industries in London over the period. Across the UK overall, the health and social care sector has seen much stronger real-wage growth, albeit growing from a much lower base.
The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), is the most comprehensive source of information on the structure and distribution of earnings in the UK. ASHE provides information about the levels, distribution and make-up of gross earnings and paid hours worked for employees in all industries and occupations. The ASHE is based on employer responses for a 1% sample of employee jobs, using HM Revenue and Customs Pay As You Earn (PAYE) records to identify individuals’ current employers. The ASHE does not cover the self-employed nor does it cover employees not paid during the reference period.
Owing to the way the ASHE data is structured, it has not been possible to construct estimates of median earnings for the sector in all other UK regions, nor has it been possible to construct a comparison to all other industries in London. As such the benchmark comparisons presented are for the sector in the UK as a whole, and for all London industries as a whole.
ASHE data for the latest year in the series is considered provisional and will be revised in a future ONS release.
Median advertised salaries (occupations)
Extracting median advertised salaries from job postings offers valuable insights into market rates for sector occupations in London, providing data not available from other sources, though it comes with important caveats (see notes).
High salaries for medical professionals: Professional, specialist and managerial occupations in health and social care – such as medical practitioners, pharmacists, health service managers, and nurses – command amongst the highest advertised salaries.
Above LLW: Encouragingly, all of the most recruited occupations in the health and social care sector had advertised salaries above the London Living Wage (LLW), although care and early years workers (who are typically employed in the social care sub-sector) were only marginally above this level.
Median advertised salaries are a useful metric to understand market rates, but have several important caveats:
Approximately 40% of job postings in London contain salary information, although there is significant variation between different occupational groups and, therefore, figures may not be fully representative of an occupation’s true median earnings. As such, median advertised salary data should be interpreted cautiously.
Where advertised salary is presented in a job description as an hourly wage, it is converted, by Lightcast, to an annual gross full-time equivalent salary figure.
Similarly, while advertised salary figures are presented as full-time equivalent, it is important to note that actual hours worked may differ.
Job quality indicators
To support the analysis and measurement of job quality and good work in London, the ONS have produced regional sector specific indicator estimates, building upon their broader 2021 publication. This includes a breakdown between healthcare, and social care.
Major challenges for social care: Workers in social care report considerably more challenges than those working in healthcare activities. Moreover, across all metrics – apart from satisfactory working hours – job quality indicators for social care are worse than that of all other industries in London. These poor results are likely having a significant impact on the sector’s ability to attract and retain staff.
Pay and Progression: The metric with the largest difference between the health and social care subsectors is in terms of low pay, where 30% of social care workers report it as an issue, compared to 10% in healthcare. This in part reflects the divergence observed in occupational advertised salaries (above). Similarly, almost half of social care workers complain of no opportunities for career progression.
London specific challenges: For many of the most serious challenges facing the health and social care sector, their incidence in London appears to be higher than in other UK regions. This may suggest London specific issues facing the sector.
Not feeling involved in decisions: Among the most significant issue, both for the health and social care sector and across all industries in London, is the widespread feeling among workers that they lack involvement (or feeling represented) in their employer’s decision-making processes.
Section 4: Businesses
What are the characteristics and contribution of businesses in the sector?
What’s in this section?
➤ Overview ➤ Trends in the number of registered enterprises ➤ Industry output (Gross Value Added)
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Section 4: Overview
Significant role in London’s economy: In 2024, London’s health and social care industries included 21,370 enterprises, making up 4% of all businesses, a similar share to other regions. The lower business numbers relative to employment levels likely reflects the concentration of activity within large National Health Service (NHS) affiliated organisations.
Lower shares of micro-enterprises: While micro-enterprises (0-9 employees) account for the largest share of total sector enterprises in London (77%), that is notably lower than for all other industries in the capital.
GVA contribution and output challenges: The health and social care sector contributed £24 billion to London’s economy in 2022, representing 5% of the capital’s total Gross Value Added (GVA). As a sector, health and social care output levels were adversely impacted by the pandemic but have manged to recover to pre-COVID levels as of 2022.
Registered enterprises in the sector
Headline trends in the number of sector businesses
Health and social care enterprises in London: In 2024, London’s health and social care sector consisted of 21,370 enterprises, representing 4% of all businesses in the capital. The lower business numbers relative to overall employment levels likely reflects the intense concentration of activity within a few large National Health Service affiliated trusts, hospitals and clinics.
Comparison to other UK regions: London’s share of health and social care enterprises (4%) is slightly lower than the 4.2% seen across other UK regions but has followed a broadly similar trend since 2010.
Sector-wide enterprise numbers growing: The number of health and social care enterprises in London has grown steadily by 17% since 2019, resuming its longer run trends following a relatively sharp decline between 2017-2019. Since the pandemic its growth has consistently outpaced that of other industries in the capital.
Enterprise composition
Sub-industry composition: Similar to overall job numbers, the largest sub-industry in terms of enterprise numbers within the sector as of 2024 was human health activities, accounting for 61% of firms. This was followed by social work activities without accommodation close to 30%.
The lower shares of micro-enterprises: While micro-enterprises (0-9 employees) account for by far the largest share of London’s health and social care sector – accounting for 77% of all health and social care enterprises – this represents a considerably lower share than the 91% seen across other industries in the capital. This lower micro-enterprise share again likely reflects the overall sectors concentration in NHS related organisations and professional clinics which typical require larger workforces.
Sector Output: Gross Value Added (GVA)
An analysis of Gross Value Added (GVA) — a measure of the value generated by producing goods and services — provides insights into the contribution that the health and social care industry makes to London’s local economy.
Headline trends in sector GVA
Notable contribution: The health and social care sector makes an important contribution to London’s economy, accounting for £23.7 billion — or 5% — of the capital’s total GVA as of 2022 (using chained volume measures in 2019 money value). However, relative to its employment size this would suggest that it is a somewhat less productive sector in terms of GVA than some others in the capital.
Steady performance over time: London’s health and social care sector’s output levels have grown broadly in line with other industries in London since 2010, excluding the pandemic shock.
Adverse pandemic shock: Naturally, the onset of the pandemic had a sudden and disruptive impact on the sector’s typical activities with staff and business being reassigned to deal with the public health crisis. Relative to 2019, this resulted in GVA falling 35% in 2020, considerably more than other industries in London. In 2021, GVA rebounded strongly as recovery got under way and normal processes began to resume and by 2022 the sector had recovered to its pre-pandemic output level.
Sub-industry composition of output
Human health activities dominate: In 2022, human health activities accounted for close to 79% of the health and social care sector’s total GVA, making it the largest contributor by far. This is followed by social work activities at 13% and residential care at almost 8%.
Productivity differences: Relative to subsector employment shares, human health activities has a disproportionately large GVA illustrating that it is a more productive sector than social care activities.
Section 6: Skill Needs
What specific skills are employers seeking?
What’s in this section?
➤ Overview ➤ Top skills in demand for specific occupations ➤ Digital skill needs
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Section 6: Overview
Unique and shifting skillsets: Every occupation has its own unique skill requirements that are constantly evolving.
Gradually growing demand for digital skills: Demand for digital skills in health and social care occupations has risen since pre-pandemic, with 22% of job postings currently requiring at least one digital skill, although this is lower than the 47% seen across all other occupations in London.
Variability in digital skill needs: The requirement for digital skills varies significantly across health and social care roles, with postings for professional roles the most likely to expressly require digital skills.
Skills in demand for key occupations
Assessing sector-related skills requirements at the detailed occupational level is essential because skills needs vary significantly between roles. Each occupation within a sector requires distinct competencies, and understanding these differences enables more targeted training and workforce development that aligns with the specific and evolving demands of each job.
This section uses job posting data to identify the skills in demand for the most recruited health and social care-related occupations in London. The analysis highlights the most sought-after common/transferable skills, as well as the specialised/technical skills critical to each role, and examines how their prevalence in job postings has shifted since the pre-pandemic period.
Common Skills are prevalent and transferable across many different occupations and industries, including both personal attributes and learned skills. (e.g. ’Communication or ‘Problem solving’). These include soft skills, human skills, and general competencies.
Specialized Skills are typically only required within a subset of occupations or equip one to perform a specific task (such as ‘Econometrics’ or ‘Lifeguarding’). These are sometimes known as technical skills or hard skills.
More information is available at Lightcast’s skills taxonomy.
A thorough understanding of the skills, qualifications, and competencies that define each occupation, and distinguish them from one another, is essential for policymakers, educators, and employers alike. It allows them to identify similar job roles based on their shared skillsets, and, in doing so, enables them to start to build occupational career pathways. These not only inform the sector’s overall workforce development strategy but also equip individuals with the knowledge they need to better understand and progress their careers.
In addition to the skills analysis in this report, tools such as the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) occupational maps, the UK Careers Service’s career explorer and the U.S. O*NET occupational descriptions also provide valuable frameworks for understanding specific role requirements, and what is required to transition between them.
Digital skills
Tracking and analysing the prevalence of digital skill demand in the labour market is important given its cross-cutting nature and potential to drive innovation and productivity across all sectors. As technology continues to transform the nature of work, understanding the demand for these skills will ensure that the workforce can adapt to evolving job requirements as they arise.
Gradually rising demand in health and social care: Demand for digital skills in occupations related to the health and social care sector has grown relative to 2019. Currently, 22% of job postings for health and social care-related occupations require at least one digital skill—though this is significantly lower than the 47% seen across all other occupations in London. Fluctuations in overall sector demand for digital skills can depend on changes in the underlying occupational mix.
Uneven distribution across roles: The need for digital skills is not evenly spread across health and social care roles. Health services and public health managers are the most likely to explicitly require them (34%), followed by medical and dental technicians (32%) and other professional / managerial roles. In contrast, early education and care roles are the least likely to require these skills, both all less than 12%. For the majority of roles however, there has been a notable rise in digital skill demand relative to pre-COVID.
Most in-demand digital skills: The most sought-after digital skills across health and social care sector occupations include a wide variety of productivity tools (MS Office) basic computer literacy skills, and digital clinical record management systems, among others. However, there is significant variability in digital skill needs by occupation.
Building upon Lightcast’s own definition of ‘software’ skills, GLA Economics has further developed and expanded this definition using Lightcast’s skills taxonomy. Through this process, GLA Economics have identified over 13,000 specific ‘digital’ skills, or skills that closely imply digital or software expertise.
This granular definition can help provide insights into the demand for digital skills within the sector in London. However, it is unlikely to offer a complete picture of digital skill needs. Some relevant digital skills may not yet have been identified, while in other roles digital expertise may be implicitly inferred rather than explicitly stated. As such, this analysis should be considered only indicative of demand within the sector and its related occupations. It is also important to note that changes in the underlying occupational makeup of the sector over time may also affect the observed demand for digital expertise.
GLA Economics’ definition of digital skills remains experimental and is constantly being refined to reflect its rapidly evolving nature. As such, prevalence estimates may fluctuate with each iteration of this release.
The rapid development of digital technologies — such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and advanced robotics — is expected to bring significant changes to the labour market. These advancements may automate routine tasks and reshape the nature of some occupations, with impacts anticipated to vary by sector and skill level. Roles requiring critical thinking, creativity, and specialised expertise are likely to adapt, while those focused on repetitive tasks may face greater challenges. Experimental analysis by the ONS on automation (2019) and DfE on AI (2023) highlights differing levels of exposure across occupations.
While the rapid speed of technological change means the overall impact of these new technologies remains uncertain, it emphasises the importance of fostering adaptable skills and supporting lifelong learning that helps individuals and organisations respond effectively to change.
Definitions and Resources
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Please contact Jeff Dwan-O’Reilly or Monet Durieux at GLA Economics.
