Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to increase pay for care workers in line with the national living wage.

The National Minimum Wage is the legal minimum employers must pay their workers. For workers aged 25 and over this legal minimum is defined as the National Living Wage. The current rate (2020) for the National Living Wage stands at £8.72. Central Government will continue to ensure that the social care system is funded so that providers can pay the National Living Wage to all eligible workers.

In addition, local authorities, as commissioners of adult social care were given market shaping duties by the Care Act 2014 and must work with care providers to determine a fair rate of pay for fair work based on local market conditions.