University study calls for care worker pay parity

Care workers are now worse off in real terms than they were two years ago and should be given pay parity with equivalent NHS roles, according to new research involving the University of Warwick.

The pay had declined relative to other low-paid occupations over the last 15 years, including positions in retail which offered higher pay for less responsibility, the report stated.

Beate Baldauf, from the university and co-author of the paper, said workers should not have to experience hardship or poverty if they wished to work in care.

The new government promised to introduce a fair pay agreement for care workers in the King's speech last month.

The research was conducted by the university's Institute for Employment Research and ReWAGE, which is made up of senior researchers from leading universities in the UK.

The paper stated that the median carer’s pay had risen by less than £4 an hour in the last 15 years, while the median supermarket sales assistant had seen their pay rise by £4.52 an hour.

Increases in the National Minimum Wage and the National Living Wage "eroded the difference in pay between care workers and senior care workers, reducing incentives for staff to seek promotion or stay in the sector", the researchers additionally found.

The research called for pay to be increased across junior and more senior care roles to incentivise promotion and ensure staff recruitment and retention.

The authors said their paper came in the wake of the proposed fair pay agreement which the government said proposed "fair pay and conditions, including staff benefits, terms and training, underpinned by rights for trade unions to access workplaces".

The Department of Heath and Social Care has said it is getting to grips with the social care crisis, "starting with the workforce by delivering a new deal for care workers".

Rising inflation and fuel bills and a chronic staff shortage are some of the challenges the social care sector has been facing.

Ms Baldauf said a pay increase was key to improving the competitiveness of the sector, but was insufficient "to address the long-standing crisis in recruitment and retention".

"We also need action to improve the working conditions of care staff to help improve morale,” he added.

Professor Chris Warhurst, co-chair of ReWAGE said the group hoped the paper fed into the debate on the fair pay agreement.

"The evidence suggests that good quality jobs in social care are vital to the delivery of good quality social care.”

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