Care workers will be offered access to the first national collective pension scheme for the sector under plans unveiled by Health and Social Care Secretary Yvette Cooper at the Labour Party conference this week.
Announcing the measures in Liverpool, Yvette Cooper said the government would introduce a national collective pension scheme for care workers alongside reforms to pay and conditions, arguing that care staff had been "undervalued and underpaid for far too long".
She said the proposal is being introduced alongside part of a wider package of workforce measures intended to support recruitment and retention across adult social care, including a new workforce plan and expanded training opportunities, alongside the ongoing process towards a legally binding Fair Pay Agreement for care workers.
The secretary of state also promised to publish a workforce plan for adult social care, including career pathways, training and development of specialist skills, and said thousands more academy places would be created to support young people into care careers.
Cautious welcome from sector leaders
Liz Jones, deputy chief executive and policy director at the National Care Forum, said it was ‘gratifying’ to see government backing measures to improve workforce sustainability and attract more young people into care careers, and welcomed plans for a workforce strategy and work academy programmes, but said success would depend on adequate resourcing and meaningful engagement with providers.
She added that providers would require additional funding if a collective pension scheme resulted in higher employer contributions “to ensure they are not left out of pocket".
Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, described the move as a significant moment for the workforce.
"Our analysis with COHIBL found that pension scheme members in this sector are around 20 per cent more likely to retire below the minimum living standard than workers in other industries," he said. A collective pension scheme could help make social care "the career people build a whole life on, not just a job they leave".
Meanwhile, the Local Government Association said reform must be fully funded, warning that councils should be closely involved in implementation to avoid jeopardising care provision or local authority finances.
