Councils require greater clarity over how their social care market-shaping and commissioning duties should be used to ensure a sustainable workforce, new research has suggested.

The Care Act 2014 outlines councils' responsibility for market-shaping and commissioning, but a study of the social care workforce, published today by academics at Kings College London, said there was ‘greater scope for clarity' over what councils needed to do to ensure they can avoid long-term recruitment and retention problems.