Sustain and Retain - Optimising Retention in the Speech and Language Therapy Workforce: A Toolkit

The retention of Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs) remains a critical workforce challenge across England and the United Kingdom (UK), and internationally. Difficulties in sustaining the Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) workforce, particularly in the National Health Service (NHS), have significant implications not only for workforce wellbeing and service continuity, but also for patient outcomes, system capacity, and long term sustainability of services. Despite strong professional commitment and motivation among SLTs, persistent pressures relating to workload, job satisfaction, career progression, and organisational culture contribute to increasing attrition and mobility within and beyond the profession. Underscoring its criticality, workforce retention remains a profound concern of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, 2025). Addressing these SLT workforce challenges requires coordinated, system-wide, and evidence informed approaches, that go beyond generic solutions. This toolkit responds directly to research-informed recommendations for sustaining and retaining the SLT workforce, emerging from an evaluation project with SLTs across the East of England, and a carefully curated, ongoing partnership with the workforce and leaders across the system. It provides practical, tried-and-tested solutions to optimise retention in the workforce, cutting across system levels. The challenge is clear; the solutions are here. The next step is action.