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A leading Greater Manchester care firm has said it failed to fill a single vacancy in its latest recruitment round - blaming the sector's "negative image".

Beloved Homecare, one of only three in the region rated 'outstanding' by the industry regulator, said despite offering an "attractive, stable salary of £25,000", as well as training and career progression, it has had no luck hiring in the past two months.

The Trafford-based firm said it has conducted a poll that found most adults believe professional home carers earn less on average than those in retail and hospitality.

Another conducted by the º£½ÇÊÓƵ Homecare Association (º£½ÇÊÓƵHCA) found the Covid-19 crisis had exacerbated the longstanding issues of recruitment and retention, with demand for services rising and more people leaving the sector due to ‘low pay and burnout’.

Speaking after failing to fill any of the seven currently-open carer vacancies, Beloved Homecare's MD Mark Collier said: “I’m genuinely shocked that we haven’t received a much broader range of candidates for roles that offer a competitive salary, and genuine opportunities to learn and progress into management.

“But we’ve been unable to fill a single home carer vacancy in over two months, and it’s becoming a big headache for us, as it’s limiting our future growth potential.”

Mr Collier said Beloved’s staff turnover is low at only 12% - compared to a 15% average annual turnover of staff across all º£½ÇÊÓƵ industry – and almost 40% across the º£½ÇÊÓƵ care industry.

He continued: “Unfortunately 80% of the applications we receive are immediately ruled out because people either can’t drive or are unable or unwilling to work alternate weekends - or they simply live too far away.