The Cost of Caring
Posted: Thu Feb 06, 2025 6:28 am
In this post Skeena Williamson and Lucinda Allen from the Health Foundation discuss levels of poverty and deprivation among social care workers.
Social care workers play a vital role in society but are among the worst paid in the UK. Little is known about their experiences of financial hardship. At the Health Foundation, we wanted to spain rcs data address this evidence gap. We looked at levels of poverty and deprivation among residential care workers and their families in the UK and how these compared to other workers.
Why did we look at poverty and deprivation among social care workers?
Over a million people work in the adult social care sector in the UK. They provide essential support with daily living to adults with a range of care needs, mostly because of disability and ill-health. Yet pay for care workers is low, last year the median wage was £9.50 per hour. Many also experience insecure working conditions, with almost a quarter of the workforce on zero-hours contracts. Staff turnover is high and vacancy rates are the worst on record in England.
Compared to other low-paid sectors, government has a bigger influence on pay in social care. Levels of central government funding, funneled through local authorities (or health and care trusts in Northern Ireland), help determine care providers’ budgets (of which staffing costs make up the majority). So, years of government underfunding of social care have limited how much providers can increase wages. But while devolved governments in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have recently introduced policies to improve pay in social care, action in England has been limited.
Social care workers play a vital role in society but are among the worst paid in the UK. Little is known about their experiences of financial hardship. At the Health Foundation, we wanted to spain rcs data address this evidence gap. We looked at levels of poverty and deprivation among residential care workers and their families in the UK and how these compared to other workers.
Why did we look at poverty and deprivation among social care workers?
Over a million people work in the adult social care sector in the UK. They provide essential support with daily living to adults with a range of care needs, mostly because of disability and ill-health. Yet pay for care workers is low, last year the median wage was £9.50 per hour. Many also experience insecure working conditions, with almost a quarter of the workforce on zero-hours contracts. Staff turnover is high and vacancy rates are the worst on record in England.
Compared to other low-paid sectors, government has a bigger influence on pay in social care. Levels of central government funding, funneled through local authorities (or health and care trusts in Northern Ireland), help determine care providers’ budgets (of which staffing costs make up the majority). So, years of government underfunding of social care have limited how much providers can increase wages. But while devolved governments in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have recently introduced policies to improve pay in social care, action in England has been limited.