Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect of the back-pay liability for social care providers on trends in the number of care workers.

The Government recognises the pressure these liabilities are placing on providers of social care and the effect this could have on the workforce and we are exploring options to minimise any impact on the sector.

It is crucially important that we ensure stability within social care; not just for vulnerable service users, but also for the many thousands of low paid workers.