If You Want Hard Work, Unsocial Hours And Low Pay Become A Care Worker - The Sector Needs A Better Pay Rise

25th September 2024

Despite the subject of Care being spoken about over and over Care Workers are leaving the job for higher paid employment.

For all the efforts of recruiters in the private and public sector it mostly comes down to low pay levels. Commonly suggested to stop the exodus has been that pay needs to be at least £15 an hour to stop the mass exit currently going on.

Sky News
Care workers plead for higher salaries amid recruitment crisis
Care workers tell Sky News a £15 an hour way is the "bare minimum needed" to save the sector amid some 150,000 vacancies that need filling.

Unison
Fair pay needed to begin solving recruitment problems

Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Our acceptance of low pay in social care costs us more than we think

RCN Pay Agreement
RCN Scotland responds to Scottish government's NHS pay offer for 2024/25
Care workers often start on Band 2 - See latest pay scale by RCN.

Lead Academy
What is the Most Difficult Part of Care Work Top 20 Challenges

Other
Care workers are leaving the social care sector to become Amazon warehouse pickers, and other better-paid jobs. The retailer is luring staff, offering 30% higher wages, while some workers are also leaving the care sector as they disagree to the ‘ no jab, no job' policy. Resultingly, the National Care Association has warned that care homes in England could face a staffing shortfall of 170,000 workers.

Why is care work so underpaid?
But the major barrier to better paid work is clear: cost. Funding for adult social care from Local Government is under significant pressure due to deep real-terms cuts to Local Authority funding over the last decade. This doesn't look to change dramatically despite the new Government.