Adult social care workers in England will be represented in national negotiations on pay, terms and conditions through a new adult social care negotiating body, which the Government says will deliver the sector's first Fair Pay Agreement (FPA).
The new body - to be established by the end of the year - will bring together employer and trade union representatives to negotiate on behalf of the sector, the government said in an announcement today, giving care workers and providers voting rights on pay, terms and conditions, and wider employment matters through a regular negotiation process.
An independent chair will be appointed in early 2027 to oversee negotiations, it added.
The reforms form part of the Employment Rights Act intended to give care workers a stronger voice on employment issues. The first Fair Pay Agreement is backed by £500 million of government funding and is expected to take effect in 2028-29.
Worker representation will be coordinated by the Trades Union Congress, while employer voices coiordinated by the Care Provider Alliance (CPA).
Care England, a member of the CPA, welcomed the announcement and said it represented the strongest signal yet that government is listening to longstanding concerns about low pay in the sector.
Chief executive Professor Martin Green OBE said: “I have spent years listening to care workers tell me the same thing, that they love the job and they cannot afford to keep doing it. Today's announcement is the clearest sign yet that government has heard that too, and Care England warmly welcomes it.
"It is essential that providers of every type, size and specialism have a genuine voice in shaping an agreement that will affect them directly, and we will work as part of the CPA to ensure that voice is heard," he added.
Workforce pressures remain
The announcement comes as employers continue to face recruitment and retention challenges despite recent improvements in vacancy levels.
According to Skills for Care, the adult social care vacancy rate has fallen to 6.2 per cent, its lowest level in a decade. However, Care England warned that recent workforce growth has been heavily reliant on international recruitment, while the number of posts filled by British nationals has fallen by 130,000 since 2020/21.
It added that Skills for Care has also forecast the sector will require an additional 410,000 posts by 2040 to meet growing demand from an ageing population.
Professor Green said a Fair Pay Agreement would need to be supported by wider action on workforce and commissioning challenges if it is to succeed.
“Welcome as this is, it is a framework and not yet a guarantee,” he said, warning that he will "not be shy" about calling out "good intentions" that are not "matched by delivery" as have happened in the past.
“Providers want this to succeed as much as anyonewo, A workforce that is paid and valued properly is a workforce that stays, and that means better, more consistent care for the people who rely on it.
Care England will bring everything we know about the realities of delivering care into this process, and we will keep pressing government to give the Negotiating Body what it needs to make good on the promise being made today," he added.
Workforce pathway expansion
Alongside the Fair Pay Agreement announcement, the Government confirmed an expansion of the Care Workforce Pathway, which it described as the first universal career structure for adult social care. The expanded pathway will cover almost all adult social care roles that are not health or social work professions.
Responding to the announcement, Skills for Care chief executive Professor Oonagh Smyth said the adult social care workforce deserved to be rewarded in ways that support career progression, learning and development, recruitment and retention, and called for negotiations to be informed by reliable data and evidence, and appropriate support to help the sector's 19,000 care providers implement any agreement.
She also welcomed the expansion of the Care Workforce Pathway, saying employers reported it was already helping them recruit staff, reduce agency spending and improve workforce confidence and job satisfaction.
The Local Government Association welcomed confirmation that directly employed council adult social care staff would remain part of the National Joint Council "Green Book" collective bargaining arrangements. However, its health and wellbeing committee chair Cllr Dr Wendy Taylor MBE warned that proposed funding for a Fair Pay Agreement may not be sufficient to cover full costs involved, and called for reassurance that councils would be fully reimbursed for any additional costs, and urged ministers to include local government in decision-making to avoid risks to care provision and council finances.
Department of Health and Social Care care minister Stephen Kinnock said the bod would ensure 1.5 million care workers get "a voice and a fair deal", alongside improved rights, training opportunities and career progression.
