Key trends from our market engagement and research:

• 1 in 5  adults are over 65 years: Essex’s population is  1.5 million and is growing by 10,000 every year, making it one of the largest county in UK.  21% of the population is over 65 years, and by 2040 is predicted to increase to 25%. Nearly 3% of the population is over 85, and this will increase by 24% in the next 10 years.
• 80% of Essex provider Good or Outstanding: Essex has a large and diverse care market of over 700 providers, as well as a range of unregulated services.  This number has largely been stable for a number of years. Around 80% of regulated providers are rated Good or Outstanding, this is down from around 83-84% pre-covid.
• Home First approach: There is an over-supply of residential care beds in Essex, and this over-supply is likely to grow as national and local trends continue to support more people to live at home.  This has consequences for the number of, and business models of, care home operators.  There is a need to grow domiciliary care capacity in some parts of the county.
• Growing demand for complex care: There is growing demand for complex care, particularly in nursing and dementia care – yet there are already challenges in meeting current levels of demand.
• Care technology supports  more life independence: Care tech can help reduce the amount of direct care, but care technology is under-utilised across the care sector – unlocking this could help free-up direct care capacity for the benefit of more people.
• Short term support after hospital reduces overall demand: Short term recovery services from hospital can help reduce ongoing demand but current service provision is fragmented and  we are not able meet the demand. This further erodes scarce domiciliary care capacity in an attempt to fill the gaps, and this calls for urgent attention.
• 1 out of 6 people in Essex have long term health issue or a disability: The number of people with sensory impairment is 240,000 and this is set to grow by nearly 30% by 2030.  The number of people with learning disabilities who need help from social care will likely go up by 8% by 2030.
• There needs to be a wider range of accommodation options that can provide a better community-based alternative to residential care and reduce dependency on out-of-county placements.
• Unpaid carers plays a critical role: In Essex we estimate there are over 150,000 unpaid carers, of which only 8,960 are known to ECC. The value of this unpaid care has been estimated at £2.5bn a year (University of Leeds, 2015). 
• Care workforce reduces by 2%: The care workforce has reduced by 2%  this equates to almost a loss of 1,000 care workers in the last 12 months, in the face of competition from other sectors. Making the sector an attractive and valued place to work is a key challenge in Essex, as it is across the country.