Care Association
Alliance
caa.care
A career in care for young people

Put care on the map

Young people are out of work and study. Care cannot fill its posts. But often jobcentres don't connect the two. One letter from your MP to the local jobcentre can change that, at no new cost.

ask your MP to write to the jobcentre ↓

A young care worker shares a cup of tea with an older man in a care home lounge
A young woman smiling at her phone in a bus shelter on a wet street
Start here

Two ways to join in. Pick yours.

the campaign works when both of you act

For care providers

I run a care service

Your part: email your MP and ask them to write one letter to the local jobcentre.

  1. Type your postcode. We find your MP, your nearest jobcentre and your local care association.
  2. Check the email we draft. Add your name, your service and one sentence on recruiting. About five minutes.
  3. Send it. The email points your MP to the letter and the briefing note. You do not need to write to the jobcentre yourself.
Find my MP ↓

For MPs and their offices

I'm an MP, or I work for one

Your part: send one letter to your local jobcentre, introducing the local care association.

  1. Download the letter. A Word file with every gap marked in brackets. Add your letterhead and the jobcentre manager's name.
  2. Send it with the programme outline. The one-page briefing note gives you the case and the figures.
  3. Tell us you have written. With your written OK, your seat lights up on the map. Tell us at contact@bridgeheadcommunications.com.
Get the letterRead the briefing note
£1,000
Per young person for a care work academy place, from existing Youth Guarantee funding(Moving Towards Care)
0 of 543
English MPs have written to their jobcentre(updated as MPs confirm)
6.2%
Adult social care vacancy rate in England(Skills for Care, 2025/26)
6 weeks
In the workplace, from tea rounds to a full shift(Moving Towards Care)

The map

Who has put care on the map?

Every lit seat is an MP who has written to their local jobcentre, asking job coaches to meet the local care association and refer young people to careers in care.

Run a care service? Write to your MP

We find your MP and write the email for you. We do not store your postcode.

0 of 543 English MPs have written to their jobcentre.
981,000young people aged 16 to 24 not in education, employment or training (ONS, Apr to Jun 2026)
96,000unfilled adult social care posts in England (Skills for Care, 2025/26)
981,000young people aged 16 to 24 not in education, employment or training (ONS, Apr to Jun 2026)
96,000unfilled adult social care posts in England (Skills for Care, 2025/26)
981,000young people aged 16 to 24 not in education, employment or training (ONS, Apr to Jun 2026)
96,000unfilled adult social care posts in England (Skills for Care, 2025/26)

Together we can start
young people on a career in care

The challenge ↓

Nearly a million young people are out of work and study, while care has about 96,000 posts it cannot fill. Small care providers are keen to offer work experience, but they cannot join national schemes one by one, and local jobcentres cannot reach them one by one either.

The programme ↓

Moving Towards Care runs in four stages: an introduction to care with jobcentre staff; work experience across several care settings; a six-week Sector-based Work Academy Programme that builds to a full shift; and interviews with local providers who are hiring. Local care associations co-ordinate it with Skills for Care, councils, employers and colleges.

The ask ↓

We ask MPs to write to their local jobcentre, introducing the local care association and asking job coaches to meet it and refer young people. The work academy place would be funded from within existing Youth Guarantee funding, so no new spending is needed.

Read the briefing
Four care workers in uniform walking down a residential street at sunrise
A young trainee learning from an experienced care worker

The letter

One letter. From your MP, to the jobcentre.

This is the whole letter. The yellow gaps are the only parts an MP's office fills in. Providers: you do not send this. Your email asks your MP to.

From: the MPTo: the jobcentre manager
[MP office letterhead]
[Date]
[Name]
[Job title]
[Jobcentre Plus, address]

Dear [Name],

Care careers for young people in [constituency]

I am writing to introduce [local care association], which represents care employers in [constituency], and to ask for your help in connecting young people in our area with careers in care.

Care offers young people, including those who have been economically inactive, a place to build confidence and a career that is rewarding, if sometimes challenging. The difference the work makes to people living with disability or frailty is often not understood by jobseekers or by those advising them. The Youth Guarantee aims to provide many more work experience places, but the focus too often falls on large national employers working with DWP at a strategic level. Care has a large number of smaller providers in communities across the country, and they are eager, and well placed, to play an important part. What they often lack is the infrastructure to join national schemes, and local jobcentre teams cannot easily reach them one by one.

[Local care association] has offered to co-ordinate work experience with care employers in [constituency], so that local young people can find careers supporting local people who need care. It would show the range of work in care and challenge some of the myths about it. A pre-employment Sector-based Work Academy Programme (SWAP) would follow, with further placements where the locality allows. I would be grateful if you would contact [name, email and telephone number] to arrange a meeting with your job coaches, so that they can hear what a career in care involves and refer suitable young people to the programme. The programme outline is enclosed.

I would be glad to hear how you get on. Thank you for your help.

Yours sincerely,
[MP name] MP

Enc. Moving Towards Care: programme outline

the one ask: meet your job coaches

Download the letter (Word)

MPs: fill the yellow gaps, add your letterhead, send.

Message from Melanie Weatherley MBE, co-chair of the Care Association Alliance

Care is a career, and every jobcentreshould think of it as one.A letter from your MP can startto change that mindset.
Two pairs of hands, one younger and one older, held together

Melanie

Moving Towards Care

We want every jobcentre to think of care as a career

Write to your MP
  1. 1.You write

    Care providers email their MP with a ready-made draft, filled in from their postcode.

  2. 2.Your MP writes

    The MP sends the template letter to the local jobcentre, introducing the local care association.

  3. 3.Job coaches meet

    Job coaches hear from local care employers what a career in care involves, and refer young people.

  4. 4.Young people start

    Work experience in local care settings, then a six-week work academy and interviews with providers who are hiring.

[TK: a quote from a care provider or an MP who has written, once one is agreed]

[TK: name, organisation]

For MPs and their offices

Everything an office needs to write to its local jobcentre: the template letter, the one-page briefing and the programme outline. Tell us when you have written and we will add your seat to the map.

Template letter (Word)Briefing note (PDF)Programme outline (PDF)