Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure social care support workers are (a) paid fairly and (b) supported in their roles.

We are committed to transforming adult social care and supporting adult social care workers, turning the page on decades of low pay and insecurity. That is why we are introducing the first ever Fair Pay Agreement in 2028, backed by £500 million of funding to improve the pay and conditions for the adult social care workforce.

The Fair Pay Agreement process will see a new body formed to negotiate changes to pay, and terms and conditions for care workers, improving recruitment and retention and giving staff better recognition for their vital work.

Both employers and trade unions will sit on the body, and this initial investment will mean that by 2028, care workers will expect to see a boost in their yearly wages.

This will be the first ever agreement of its kind in the social care sector, and we anticipate that this collaborative approach will help to address the recruitment and retention crisis in the sector, in turn supporting the delivery of high-quality care and recognising care professionals for the important work that they do.

Over this Parliament, alongside our changes to the minimum wage and new measures in the Employment Rights Act, care workers will receive one of the biggest upgrades in their pay, rights, and conditions in a generation. We are also taking forward other significant reforms and improvements:

- expanding the Care Workforce Pathway, the first ever national career structure for adult social care;

- funding £12 million for eligible care staff to complete courses and qualifications, such as the Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate; and

- the independent commission, chaired by Baroness Casey, on Adult Social Care launched by the Government, which we have asked to report in 2026, setting out the improvements that we can get on with within existing budgets.