A half-a-billion-pound package to help boost pay and improve conditions for care workers is “just the start” with more to come, Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting has said.
His comments came after trade union Unison, which describes itself as the biggest care union in the UK, insisted “substantially more” will be needed to deliver the promised national care service.
Mr Streeting, who was making the announcement at the Labour Party’s conference in Liverpool on Tuesday, said the £500 million investment is being made in a sector which cannot go on relying on “poverty pay and zero hours exploitation”.
The fair pay agreement will establish a new negotiating body that brings together social care employers and trade unions in England.
The initial investment in the agreement will mean that by 2028, care workers will expect to see a boost in their yearly wages, Labour said.
In an interview with the PA news agency, Mr Streeting said: “I’m really proud that as our country’s social care secretary, we’re not just legislating for fair pay agreements, but we are going to be putting them in place, in practice, backed by half a billion pounds of extra investment to support that.
“And that’s because we believe very strongly that those who care for us shouldn’t be struggling to care for their own, and we cannot go on in social care with a sector that relies on poverty pay and zero hours exploitation.”
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea has welcomed the funding as “a start” but said “substantially more will be needed to deliver the national care service the public deserves”.
She said: “Ministers will have to increase the funding behind the fair pay agreement at the earliest opportunity.
“Then wages in care can rise more quickly and the staffing crisis end.”
Asked about this, Mr Streeting said: “Of course, the trade unions will always say that we need more money for our members, and so they should, because that’s their job.
“But it’s a bit like when the minimum wage came in, people said, ‘Oh, come on, it should be higher than this’. Where are we today?
“The minimum wage is so much higher.
“So yes, fair pay agreements and this investment is just the start, but remember, it is a start, and there’ll be more to come over the coming years.”
Mr Streeting will launch a public consultation on the design of the fair pay agreement process, which is being legislated for in the Employment Rights Bill.
Following this, the Government will establish an adult social care negotiating body and its processes through regulations in 2026, with the first fair pay agreement coming into force in 2028.
The £500 million has been newly allocated from the £4 billion increase to adult social care in 2028/2029 that Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in June.
Jane Townson, chief executive of the Homecare Association, said while she supports the principle of a fair pay agreement “good intentions aren’t enough”.
She said: “The funding announced today barely scratches the surface of the multi‑billion‑pound gap in homecare.
“Most public bodies continue to commission homecare at rates far below the cost of delivering it and that simply isn’t sustainable.
“Trying to deliver a fair pay agreement without fair funding is like promising to fill the potholes but only buying the shovel.
“It’s a fool’s errand.
“For a Fair Pay Agreement to succeed, we must fix the funding model.
“This means national investment and a national approach to commissioning that ensures providers are resourced to deliver on their obligations as good employers.”
Echoing this, the National Care Forum (NCF), an association for not-for-profit social care and support, said: “As part of the Care Provider Alliance, we have been clear all along that it is not possible for a fair pay agreement to deliver without properly addressing issues associated with how care is commissioned, long-term sustainable funding commitments, a properly resourced negotiating infrastructure and a shared understanding of the data needed to inform negotiations.”
