Care

Anonymous staff surveys for care providers

For care homes and home care services. Hear what your care team finds hard to say out loud, and see what turnover is really costing you.

Work out your turnover cost

Turnover in care isn't just the way things are

Adult social care in England loses around 335,000 people a year. But the same figures show that some employers keep their staff far better than others, in the same labour market.

23.1%

Turnover of directly employed staff in adult social care in England, about 335,000 leavers a year.

Skills for Care, 2024/25

22%

Around 22% of independent sector care employers with 50 or more staff had a turnover rate below 10%.

Skills for Care, 2024/25

£7,870

The median total cost of each new care worker hire, in a study of 11 providers.

Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2026

That £7,870 covers recruitment, training and agency expenses, plus the time before a new care worker can work independently. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation notes its 11 providers are likely to better reflect larger organisations, so treat it as a guide, not a rule. Even on the narrowest measure, recruitment alone, the same study found a median of £800 per care worker. To work out your own figure, use the turnover cost calculator.

The reasons people stay are known

Skills for Care found that care workers with five positive employment factors in place, including guaranteed hours, training, a relevant qualification and working full-time, had a turnover rate of 14.4%. For those with none of them, it was 42.2%. Skills for Care is careful to say this shows an association, not necessarily the cause.

Some of those factors are about contracts. Others, like training and how supported people feel, are exactly the kind of thing your staff will tell you about, if they feel safe to.

Leaving is also front-loaded. Skills for Care found a turnover rate of 34.0% among care workers with less than a year in their role, against 15.3% for those with 20 years or more. If your new starters are leaving, finding out why early is worth a lot.

Asking the right people

Most of what the sector knows about why people leave comes from employers, not from care workers. The government's own workforce survey says so plainly. Its April 2025 report notes:

“As this is a provider-level survey, the responses could differ significantly from responses that workers would give, particularly on questions on morale.”

Department of Health and Social Care, Adult Social Care Workforce Survey, April 2025

Pulsory asks the workers, anonymously, and shows you the answers grouped together so nobody can be identified.

What your team might not be telling you

Short-staffed shifts. When someone calls in sick, the rest of the shift carries it, and it's rarely raised once the shift is over.
Nights and weekends. The teams who see senior managers least are the ones whose problems take longest to reach you.
Calls and travel. In home care, back-to-back visits and rotas that change at short notice wear people down quietly.
Feeling ready for the job. Whether people feel trained and supported for what they're actually being asked to do.
Speaking up. Whether staff feel they can raise a concern, and what they think happens when they do.

Pulsory isn't a whistleblowing or safeguarding route. Serious concerns must still go through your usual procedures.

Built for care

Made for shifts, nights and teams on the move.

No work email needed

Staff get a private link, or scan a QR code at the home. Carers out in the community can answer on their own phone, whenever suits them.

Every home side by side

Run one home or several branches. See the whole organisation at a glance and compare each location with the others.

Days, nights and teams

Set up teams as departments and see each one on its own, as long as it has at least five responses.

Small teams stay protected

A night team of four is hidden, never shown as a rounded number, so nobody can be singled out.

Managers never see their own scores

Each manager can have a view of their own team. Only the people above them see how they're doing.

Short and regular

A full survey each January and an eight-question check-in in April, July and October. A few minutes on any device.

If you're registered with the CQC

“Well-led” is one of the five questions the Care Quality Commission asks of every registered service. Regularly asking your staff what's working, and being able to show what you did about it, is useful whatever framework you're assessed under.

Pulsory isn't a compliance tool and won't do that work for you. It gives you an honest, regular picture of how your team is doing, and a record of what changed.

Questions

Pulsory for care providers

Do care workers need a work email?

No. Each person can have a private link by email if they have one, or scan a QR code you put up at the home. It works on any phone, with no app and no login.

Can night staff and home care workers take part?

Yes. The survey stays open for between one and four weeks, your choice, and people can answer whenever suits them, on their own phone.

Could someone in a small team be identified?

No. Any group with fewer than five responses is hidden entirely. You see a padlock, never the scores underneath.

Does it work across several homes or branches?

Yes. You can see the whole organisation, look at any single location, and compare them side by side. Managers can have their own view, scoped to their own people.

Is Pulsory a whistleblowing or safeguarding tool?

No. It shows grouped, anonymous results about how your staff experience work. Serious concerns, including anything about the safety of the people you support, must still go through your existing procedures.

Will it help with CQC inspections?

Pulsory isn't built around any inspection framework. It helps you find out what your staff think and keep track of what you do about it, which is useful whatever you're assessed on.

Hear from your care team

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