Why Pay Fair For Social Care

“Last week, while visiting my sister in the hospital, I had to inform senior nurses on how to clean her PEG. Despite being paid much less, I support a person with a PEG daily.” James*, support worker, Barnsley.

Support workers like James perform complex nursing tasks and work to understand and address distressed behaviour. They empower individuals to have control over their own lives.

James, a support worker at Dimensions, is leaving due to the financial strain and the opportunity for a higher paying job in the NHS.

As he said; “It’s a no-brainer.”

Several things will result from James’ decision to leave…

First, replacing him will likely require using agency staff, which can negatively impact social care funding during a workforce crisis. Employed colleagues may grow resentful of the better paid, less experienced agency staff, leading to more colleagues leaving and further increasing agency penetration and profits.

Second, the remaining team will have to take on more shifts, potentially leading to burnout, particularly for rising star Hilary who already faced a 70-hour workweek during Covid-19 absences. Third, recruiting new staff will be time-consuming and costly.

Lastly, James’ departure will cause anxiety for the people he supports, such as profoundly disabled Michael, who require stability in their support team for a positive impact on their lives.

Benchmarking James’ (and others) pay against NHS pay scales will achieve six things:

1. It ensures James earns a fair wage for his skills and responsibilities.
2. It encourages James to stay in social care by equalizing esteem and pay.
3. It attracts more values-driven individuals like James to social care over retail, benefiting both the NHS and social care.
4. It places pressure on employers to improve non-pay elements of the job, such as career planning, training, and wellbeing offers.
5. It allows social care providers to recruit overseas by meeting the minimum salary requirement for the care worker visa.
6. It prevents social care funding from going to agency profit margins, resulting in potential off-payroll savings.

Other organizations and groups, such as the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Future Social Care Coalition, have also made similar calls.

Join our call to increase social care staff pay

The economic case for social care investment

There is a strong economic case for further investment in social care.

The social care sector makes a significant contribution to the UK economy.

In 2020/21, the direct Gross Value Added (GVA) 1 of adult social care in England alone was £25.6 billion (Skills for Care).

The adult social care sector is a significant employer, accounting for 5% of all jobs in England, making it a bigger employer than the NHS (Skills for Care).

For more detailed analysis, download ‘Carenomics: Unlocking the Economic Power of Care’.