Government announces £300m fund to give care workers in England bonuses and pay rises

The care sector in England will be able to use money from a new £300m fund to pay for bonuses, give care staff early pay rises, fund overtime and recruit new staff.

The fund is part of a package of new measures announced to protect the social care sector from Covid-19.

More resources are also being poured into vaccinating care home staff and residents as well as housebound people and their caregivers.

Care homes will be able to request follow up booster visits from vaccination teams for staff and residents and home visit payments for GPs will be increased to further expand the home care vaccination programme.

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: “Throughout the pandemic we have done everything we can to protect the adult social care sector, and the emergence of the Omicron variant means this is more important than ever.

“This new funding will support our incredible workforce by recruiting new staff and rewarding those who have done so much during this pandemic.

“Boosting the booster rollout in social care and updating the visiting guidance will help keep the most vulnerable people in our society safe from the virus this winter.”

Minister for Care, Gillian Keegan added: "Vaccination remains our best line of defence and we are going further and faster to ensure social care staff and those receiving care, whether in a care home or their own home, are prioritised for boosters."

More than 70 per cent of older adult care home residents have already received a booster jab. However just under a third of staff (29 per cent) working in England’s care homes supporting people aged 65+, have received a booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Vic Rayner, chief executive of the National Care Forum – leading association of not for profit care and support organisations, called the additional £300m funding for the care workforce “extremely welcome” and said: “The crisis impacting on both recruitment and retention within care has been growing at an alarming rate, and this funding will be essential to enable providers to take action.

“It is imperative that the funding gets straight to the front line in order that each and every care worker feels the benefit of this immediately.”

Kerry Dearden, deputy chief executive of the OSJCT (The Orders of St John Care Trust) tweeted: “Whilst the extra £300M to end of Mar to help recruitment and retention is very welcoming it does not allow providers to make the longer term plans and decisions to stabilise the sector. What we need is a long term pay and reward plan for social care.”

The £300 million fund is in addition to the £162.5 million announced in October, to support recruitment and retention. Care settings will be given extra guidance for infection prevention and control measures and PPE.

There is a huge range of job opportunities in the care home sector. If you are looking for a job in social care, click here for the leading UK care home jobs board.