In June, nearly 400,000 care staff were earning less than the minimum wage paid at most of the major supermarket chains, while a third of workers would have received an immediate 6.3% pay rise, plus staff benefits, moving to the best-paid supermarkets, according to research by the King’s Fund Health thinktank. MPs who gave evidence on the crisis this summer heard care home managers say: “I’m scared to hear Aldi is opening nearby as I know I’m going to lose staff.” The government announced a task force this month to look at hiring international staff in critical roles, although no final decisions have been made on the scale of any recruitment drive or whether it will go ahead. “Pay is a key reason for the social care workforce crisis,” said Simon Bottery, senior fellow for social care at the King’s Fund. “There has been no progress in delivering… strategy [on pay progression and professional development] in adult social care and there is no indication that the government is seriously interested in developing one. The government’s impact statement on its adult care reform program has an entire chapter on the workforce that manages to avoid using the word “pay” even once. He said: “For the foreseeable future, the opening of a new Aldi is going to be good news for local shoppers but bad news for the local social care sector and the people who use its services.” For social care, the minimum rate for staff aged over 23 in June 2022 was £9.50 – the statutory floor set by the ‘national living wage’. It has been estimated that around 50% of care workers earn within 30p of the National Living Wage. In June 2022, nine out of the 10 biggest supermarkets were paying more than this, according to research by the King’s Fund. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. It represents a turnaround in the last decade. In 2012-13 retail assistants were paid an average of 16p an hour less than care workers. But by 2020-21 they were paid 21p an hour more. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “We value the huge contribution to society that care workers make every day. That’s why we’re providing at least £500m for workforce development, training and wellbeing. This is part of an additional £5.4 billion investment in adult social networks through the health and care levy which will enable us to continue a comprehensive program of reform. Local authorities work with private care providers to set pay rates, which should take wage costs into account, based on local market conditions. April’s rise in the National Living Wage means a full-time NLW care worker will see their annual earnings rise by over £1,000 this year.’
