A £500 million package will help boost pay and improve conditions for care workers, Wes Streeting will announce.
The fair pay agreement will establish a new negotiating body that brings together social care employers and trade unions in England.
The Health Secretary will tell the Labour Party’s conference in Liverpool that “poverty pay” will no longer be tolerated in social care.
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.
Mr Streeting will also restate Labour’s commitment to establishing a national care service.
In his conference speech he will say: “We will no longer accept a system built on poverty pay and zero-hour insecurity.
“We will back the first-ever fair pay agreement for care workers, not just in law but in practice – starting with £500 million to deliver better pay, terms and conditions for care workers across our country.
“Because the people who care for our loved ones should never struggle to care for their own.”
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 Rachel Reeves announced in June.
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “The funding announced is a start, but substantially more will be needed to deliver the national care service the public deserves.
“Once the care sector is able to stand on its own two feet and provide quality care to all those needing support, it will ease the pressure on families and the NHS.
“The launch of the public consultation allows the long-overdue reform of care to begin to take shape.
“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.”
