Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he will make it his policy to increase funding for local authorities to allow for a pay rise for local authority funded care workers in line with the public sector pay rise.

The Government does not have direct responsibility for pay awards in adult social care in the same way as for other areas of the public sector, and for this reason adult social care was not included in the pay award announcement on 21 July 2020. Adult social care providers continue to set the rate of pay for their workers.

The Government nonetheless maintains oversight of the social care system and we are committed to raising the profile of the social care sector. Putting social care on a sustainable footing, where everyone is treated with dignity and respect, is one of the biggest challenges that we face as a society.