![]() Staff in the focus groups linked this to workforce shortages, which have got much worse recently, on the back of a 52% rise in vacancies in 2021-22.įor PAs specifically, it said that the unregulated nature of their work suited some, but left others “highly exposed to poor and potentially unlawful treatment”. The report also cited 2017 research that found that care staff were more likely to report “going above and beyond”, feeling exhausted and experiencing a high level of tension in their work than those in other sectors. However, based on previous Homecare Association estimates that home care staff spend a fifth of their time travelling, the foundation calculated that those on median pay would effectively be earning £9.20 an hour, 30p below the current NLW. While time spent travelling counts as working time, it is lawful for employers not to pay staff for this so long as their wages are not driven below the NMW or NLW as a result. While average wages for domiciliary care staff (£11.07 per hour) were higher than for residential care staff (£10.50 per hour), their effective pay rate was often depressed by not being paid for travel time. The Resolution Foundation also highlighted the lack of reward for experience, which was flagged up in Skills for Care’s annual report on the workforce for 2021-22, which showed that experienced staff earned just 7p per hour more than newcomers. Social care losing ground to other low-paid sectorsĭrawing on Office for National Statistics data, the Resolution Foundation said the median hourly wage for frontline care workers, as of April 2022, was £10.90, less than for low-paid jobs in offices, call centres, transport and the NHS.Īt the same time, the pay premium social care had previously enjoyed over other low-paid sectors – including retail, hospitality and cleaning – had fallen from 5% to 1%, from 2011-21, according to the government’s Migration Advisory Committee. ![]() Average care worker earns less than over 80% of wider workforce. ![]() CQC urges government to fund better pay for care staff to tackle ‘gridlocked’ system.Minimum price of home care to rise by 12% next year, says provider body.It also urged tougher enforcement of minimum wage laws in the sector and minimum employment standards for PAs. The think-tank called for a wage floor for care work that was £2 per hour above the NLW, or in the case of those aged under 23, the NMW, to both tackle understaffing and reduce the risks of staff being paid unlawfully low wages. The report – based on data analysis and focus groups with three groups of staff – also raised concerns about the impact of high vacancies on workloads and staff safety, and the working conditions of personal assistants (PAs), which it said were often “insecure and informal”. This resulted in wages being persistently low and some domiciliary care workers being paid, unlawfully, below the national minimum wage (NMW) or national living wage (NLW), because their travel time was not recompensed. Their sense of vocation, low levels of trade union membership and a lack of alternative flexible employment options reduced their bargaining power with employers, found the Resolution Foundation study. ![]() ![]() Care workers’ weak power in the workplace helps explain why they put up with poor pay and conditions, a report has found. ![]()
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