PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Care Workers: Pay (3 March 2022)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Skills for Care's report, The state of the adult social care sector and workforce in England 2021, what steps he is taking to ensure that care workers are paid a fair rate following the finding in that report that workers at the Care Quality Commission’s lowest scoring care establishments had a lower average rate of pay than those with the highest scores.

Asked by:
Karin Smyth (Labour)

The vast majority of care workers are employed by private sector providers who ultimately set their pay and conditions independent of central Government. Local authorities work with care providers to determine a fair rate of pay based on local market conditions.

An increase in the rate of the National Living Wage will mean many of the lowest paid care workers will benefit from a 6.6% pay rise effective from 1 April 2022. The Government is providing a sustainable local government settlement, designed to ensure key pressures in the system are met, including the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage.

Answered by:
Gillian Keegan (Conservative)
8 March 2022