Care workers paid £8,000 less than NHS equivalents in England - study

A care worker in England is paid on average £8,000 a year less than NHS staff with the same skills, research for a care provider suggests.

The charity, Community Integrated Care, also told BBC News it was having to provide food parcels for some staff who were struggling to pay their bills.

Separate research shows low pay is the most common reason why care staff quit.

The government said it was "incredibly grateful" to carers and recognised their "extraordinary commitment".

A spokesperson added: "That's why we prioritised social care in the Autumn Statement, providing up to £7.5bn over the next two years."

Many health professionals are struggling financially, with nurses due to strike over pay for a second time on Tuesday.

However, Community Integrated Care - one of the UK's largest providers of support for people with learning disabilities and autism - says pay pressures facing social care are now "untenable" and "immoral".

On average, the study found:

The research, by job evaluation experts Korn Ferry, found care workers' wages have risen since last year, but the pay gap with the NHS has increased by about £1,000.

Other jobs with similar skill levels, such as senior teaching assistants, are paid an average of £26,327, again significantly more than care workers, Korn Ferry found.

Mollie Moorby, 23, works with adults with physical and learning disabilities in Stockport, Greater Manchester. "This is my dream job, helping people," Mollie told the BBC.

She is trained to support people with their daily life, including with their health needs and food.

Mollie started looking after her own mother as a teenager, and gradually realised she wanted to work in a caring role. However, on £10 an hour she struggles to put food on the table and cannot afford to turn on her heating.

"When you're working 40 to 50 hours a week and you put in everything, not only physically, but mentally, emotionally - for lack of better words - it doesn't seem fair."

With the cost-of-living crisis, things became so difficult that Mollie asked her bosses at Community Integrated Care for help. As a result, they started providing food parcels for staff in need, and they have given out more than 80 since September.

"With the food parcels, it has been a lot easier," says Mollie. "You get necessities, things that are expensive, like laundry detergent. That was stressing me out for a while."

The charity says it has already used its financial reserves to increase wages for Mollie and her colleagues. However, it says it cannot raise them further because it is now running at a loss - as the fees it receives from councils for providing support are not enough.

"We are subsidising the contracts that local authorities are asking us to provide," says Teresa Exelby, from the charity. "We want to do absolutely everything we can, but as a charity that is not sustainable. Fundamentally, the system is absolutely broken."

A separate report, published on Monday by the Homecare Association, which represents companies caring for people in their own homes, reaches a similar conclusion, with almost all the firms that responded saying it is harder than ever to recruit and keep staff.

The latest official figures, published in October, show 165,000 job vacancies in adult social care in England, up 52% in a year.

The Homecare Association study says among staff, the most common reason for leaving is needing to earn more money and more than half say they feel burnt out, stressed or exhausted.

The government says its Made With Care recruitment campaign aims to boost careers in adult social care and it is also investing £15m in hiring from overseas.

In England, the national living wage for over-23s will rise to £10.42 from next April.

In Scotland, care workers have been paid a minimum of £10.50 an hour since April this year, and in Wales, they will be paid at least £10.90 an hour from June 2023.