The government has been urged to publish a timeline for the introduction of a ‘fair pay agreement’ for care workers, as part of a new report examining the current state of the sector.
A new report from the Health and Social Care Committee has today outlined several actions the government should take to address what has been described as a ‘broken’ social care sector.
The committee claimed the government needed to measure the ‘true cost of inaction’ within the sector or future reforms will be ‘doomed to fail’.
Fair pay agreement for care workers
As part of the report findings, the committee flagged that care workers continued to be ‘underpaid’ and that the situation was ‘driving high turnover and vacancy rates’.
And within its recommendations, it urged the government to publish a timeline for the introduction of its ‘fair pay agreement’ for social care.
It said it welcomed government plans for the pay agreement which were first mooted in Labour’s manifesto.
But it urged the Department of Health and Social Care to set out when its discussions on the fair pay agreement would begin and when the agreement would be finalised by.
The committee stressed the government must outline how these measures would be funded, as providers and local governments ‘cannot afford to fund them’ without additional financial support.
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And it warned that low pay in social care failed to recognise the level of skill that adult social care workers demonstrate through physically and emotionally complex work.
‘It is both morally unacceptable, and economically shortsighted, that the current pay regime is pushing some into poverty,’ the report said.
It added that higher wages would both achieve better quality care for patients and reduce recruitment and training costs for providers.
And it pointed to a study by the GMB Union of 2,500 care homes in England over the last three years, which found that a 10% increase in the hourly wage of a care worker increased the likelihood of a care home being rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by 7%.
The report also examined an impact assessment from the DHSC which described how a Fair Pay Agreement could drive recruitment rates by improving the economic security of healthcare professionals.
The committee recommended that the government also considered collecting occupational data for benefits claimants, to better understand the cost of low pay for care workers on the Exchequer, and to inform the case for better pay.
The impact of National Insurance rises
The report also warned of the impact of recent changes to employer National Insurance Contributions rates – which increased from 13.8% to 15% in last October’s budget, with changes starting from April 2025.
In February, peers in the House of Lords voted to exempt social care providers from having to pay increased NICs from April. This amendment was later rejected by MPs in the House of Commons.
The report said the government had not ‘properly considered’ both the immediate and long-term impact of recent budget changes on care provider’s staffing costs.
It described the care provider market as ‘in distress’ and struggling to cover existing costs through underfunded increases in the National Living Wage and National Insurance.
Last month, the National Care Forum (NCF) wrote to the government suggesting measures to ensure the delivery of a Fair Pay Agreement and to reduce the impact of rising NICs on the sector.
Meanwhile in March, national representative body Care England announced plans to seek a judicial review into increased NICs imposed on care providers.
Lack of investment in community nursing
The report pointed to evidence from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) on the lack of investment in the district nursing workforce and how this was impacting care home residents and driving up A&E attendances.
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The RCN had argued that ‘if a resident using a social care service became unwell, staff were more likely to take them to A&E, rather than being able to access community nursing’.
RCN general secretary and chief executive, Professor Nicola Ranger, said: ‘This report should act as an urgent wake-up call for the government that waiting for the conclusion of the current review into adult social care in England is not an option.’
Professor Ranger called on ministers to recognise that social care nursing recruitment and retention would worsen without additional investment.
‘Not acting now will make any future recommendations undeliverable and leave some of the most vulnerable without the care they need,’ she said.
Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, Layla Moran, said: ‘Successive governments have shied away from implementing meaningful reforms to the social care system.’
She added that NHS and social care reform cannot be achieved separately, but are ‘inextricably intertwined’.
Minister for care, Stephen Kinnock, said the government has ‘hit the ground running on social care’ despite inheriting a ‘system in crisis’.
‘A lot has been done, but we know there is so much more to do and deep reform is needed.
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‘That’s why we appointed Baroness Louise Casey to lead the independent commission working to transcend party politics and build consensus on the future of adult social care, with her first report out next year,’ he said.
The report comes as the government’s commission of the sector – known as the Casey Commission – got underway last week.
The commission aims to set out a plan for the implementation of a national care service as well as wider reforms to the adult social care sector in England.
However, in its report today, the Health and Social Care Committee warned the commission would be at risk unless there was ‘robust understanding at the centre of government about the cost of “doing nothing”.’
