THE number of people ­working in social services in Scotland has dropped for the fifth successive year.

Despite a rapidly growing elderly population and a push to look after more people in the community rather than in hospitals, new statistics released by the Scottish Social Services Council show the workforce has shrunk by 1.4 per cent, to 189,670 in 2013, from 192,360 the previous year.

This follows year-on-year falls since 2009.

Unions said the figures showed the need for realism about pay and conditions for social care staff, with private and voluntary sector employers often competing with supermarkets for workers.

Local authority cuts are also a factor, while the shift to care at home is reducing reliance on labour-intensive residential care, according to public sector union Unison.

Dave Watson, Unison's Scottish organiser, said part-time workers may also be being asked to do more. He said: "Providers are struggling to recruit and retain quality staff on the wages councils can afford to pay, so they are being forced to ask part-time workers to do a job that is closer to full-time."

SSSC chief executive Anna Fowlie said the workforce was changing due to the way frontline services are delivered.

"This could be for a number of reasons, for example financial constraints, the older age profile meaning a higher proportion of staff are retiring or more people are employing their own personal assistants," she said.

"Our workforce will look very different over the next few years as social services adapt to continuing funding pressures.In the current climate difficult decisions have to be made."