Social care staff still not paid enough, says minister

Social care workers in Wales are not paid "enough" despite recent increases, a Welsh government minister has said.

Deputy Social Services Minister Julie Morgan said it was "a struggle to recruit new staff" for social care.

In 2021 there were roughly 5,500 social care vacancies. The Welsh government does not have more up-to-date figures.

NHS leaders have said there is a "national emergency" in health and social care due to a lack of care workers.

Up to 1,500 people are medically fit but cannot leave hospital because of a lack of social care.

It has led to calls to pay carers at least £15 an hour.

Carers in Wales have been promised the Real Living Wage, which is calculated by the Real Living Wage Foundation as the salary needed to meet the cost of living.

Funding was provided this year to bring social care wages up to the previous Real Living Wage of £9.90 per hour.

But since then, the Foundation has said the wage should be £10.90 per hour outside London.

The Real Living Wage for carers was a Labour manifesto commitment in the 2021 Senedd election following research which showed fewer than half of Welsh social care workers were earning the 'real living wage'.

Over the summer, care workers were offered an additional pre-tax payment of £1,498.

Giving evidence to the Senedd's Health and Social Care committee, Julie Morgan said: "Obviously, we are paying the Real Living Wage now but, you know, it's not really enough."

The deputy social services minister added: "We are looking with our partners - that's the unions, the employers and local authorities - to look at what further steps we can take in order to improve conditions in the sector because we know it is a struggle to recruit new staff to the sector.

"Nearly all parts of the economy are facing challenges recruiting and retaining staff and social care is definitely facing those challenges.

"But we are competing with retail, hospitality, other sectors and it is a challenging situation.

"We want social care workers to have parity of esteem with healthcare workers and that certainly does not exist at the moment."

In 2021, there were roughly 5,500 vacancies in Wales' social care sector, representing about 6% of the workforce.

The minister said the government does not have an estimate as to what number of vacancies there will this autumn and winter.