This report provides a comprehensive overview of the size and structure of the adult social care sector and workforce in England as at 2013. The report draws on several data sources to produce these estimates. The majority of the detail, however, comes from the National Minimum Data Set for Social Care (NMDS-SC). The NMDS-SC is managed by Skills for Care on behalf of the Department of Health and has been collecting information about social care providers and their staff since 2006. Increased volumes and improved quality of data held by the NMDS-SC means these estimates are the most detailed and reliable to date. 

The report found that an estimated 17,300 organisations were involved in providing or organising adult social care in England as at 2013— an increase of 1% from 2012. Furthermore, the number of adult social care jobs as at 2013 was estimated at 1.52 million, an increase of 15% from 2009.