Every care worker in England would be entitled to pay of at least £12 an hour as part of a Labour manifesto pledge to improve recruitment in social care and ease the burden on the NHS.
Sir Keir Starmer’s manifesto, to be unveiled on Thursday, will promise the nation’s 1.5m care workers their wages will be protected by a Fair Pay Agreement to bring them closer into line with nurses and other NHS staff.
Unions representing care workers would be able to enter into collective bargaining with care providers – around half of which are in the private sector – in the same way the pay for NHS staff is set at nationally agreed rates with blanket terms and conditions.
The manifesto is expected to pledge that under Fair Pay Agreements there would be an ambition for care workers to receive at least the real living wage, which is £12 across the UK or £13.15 in London.
However the actual amount would be collectively agreed, and then be binding on employers.
Unions representing care workers, including the GMB, have called for the wage floor to be higher, at £15, to ensure closer parity with NHS staff.
The current average wage for care workers is around £12 an hour, but there are significant disparities between privately employed staff and local authority staff.
Care workers, the majority of whom are women, are among the lowest paid in the country, with some providers paying just a few pence over the minimum wage.
The costs are expected to be set out but insiders say that, as 50 per cent of the sector consists of private providers, these firms would be expected to foot the bill for the increase in wages, rather than pass them on to local authorities through higher charges.
Labour is expected to argue that raising wages for care home staff would increase recruitment and retention in the sector, where there are currently an estimated 180,000 vacancies.
This has led to a shortage of spaces in residential homes and is a major cause of “bed-blocking” in the NHS.
Natalie Grayson, GMB’s national organiser for the care sector, said too many private care providers made profits that did not make their way down to frontline staff.
However there may be concerns about the short-term impact on the care sector if providers in both state and private sectors have to find the extra money for workers.
Labour pledged a New Deal for Care Workers as part of its plans to improve employment rights last month, which included collective bargaining for key sectors.
In the same way unions representing NHS staff negotiate pay deals across each part of the health workforce under the Agenda for Change programme, unions would work with local authority and private care providers on better wage rates, pensions and other conditions.
Care workers would not have to be a member of a union to be entitled to the higher pay.
The promise will be in the manifesto as part of wider measures to improve social care.
An £86,000 cap on lifetime social care costs, originally pledged by Boris Johnson but delayed under Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak’s governments, will not be explicitly in the Labour manifesto but sources said a Starmer government would not disrupt the charging reforms, meaning they will still go ahead.
Social care is one of the biggest issues to face successive governments, with an army of unpaid carers, such as children or spouses, supporting the system.
Boris Johnson in 2019 claimed he had an “oven-ready” plan, while Theresa May’s so-called ‘dementia tax’ which would have seen people pay more for their social care, with costs recouped from properties after death, was held responsible for her lost majority in 2017.
The GMB and the TUC have been calling for better pay rates for care home staff for several years.
Ms Grayson of the GMB said: “It is quite evident now that care is in desperate need of reform. The impact of spending this time and investment is going to be the thing that is going to save the NHS. The NHS has too many full beds.
“The care sector needs to be seen in parity with the NHS and there needs to be a credible plan for social care rather than money being spent on the NHS as a sticking plaster.”
Before the 90s, most care homes were run by local authorities and the pay was on a par with other council staff, Ms Grayson said.
She added: “The difference in pay between local authority workers now and private care providers is about 12 per cent. For domiciliary care work it is even bigger because they don’t get paid travel time.
“Local authorities pay to commission beds which can be £500 to £700 per bed per week, which goes to the private providers, but that doesn’t end up working its way down to the workforce, who in the majority are paid between 5 to 10p over the national minimum wage.
“For a sector which is so crucial it is abysmal. Bringing some sort of parity with the NHS would mean you would get care staff who stay for a long time.
“These are people who give personal care to people and who put themselves in potential danger, who risk being abused by family members or being sexually assaulted.
“Covid showed how much we need the sector to work properly.
“There has been such a massive exodus from the care sector… You can work in Lidl and get more money for less stress.”
Election 2024
The general election campaign has finished and polling day has seen the Labour Party romp to an impressive win over Rishi Sunak‘s Tories.
Sir Keir Starmer and other party leaders have battled to win votes over six weeks, and i‘s election live blog covered every result as it happened. Tory big beasts from Penny Mordaunt to Grant Shapps saw big losses, while Jeremy Corbyn secured the win in Islington North.
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK also outdid expectations with four MPs elected.
But what happens next as Labour win? Follow the i‘s coverage of Starmer’s next moves as the new Prime Minister.