Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take steps to (a) increase pay and (b) improve conditions for social care workers; and if he will increase pay for social care workers in line with NHS staff.

The Department has no current plans to set specific pay levels and conditions in the adult social care sector.

Most care workers are employed by private sector providers who set their pay and terms and conditions, independent of central government. Local authorities work with care providers to determine fee rates, which should take account of wage costs, based on local market conditions.

We recently announced the £570 million Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund (MSIF) – Workforce Fund. This Fund will support increased adult social care capacity, improve market sustainability, and enable local authorities to make tangible improvements to adult social care service, with a particular focus on workforce pay.