One in five care home workers living in poverty

One in five care home workers in the UK are living in poverty, compared to one in eight of all workers, with 20 per cent of care home workers relying on benefits to top up their income.

A report by the Health Foundation has found a fifth of care home workers relied on benefits from 2017 to 2020 to top up their income compared to 10 per cent of all workers.

The charity also found one in 10 care home staff did not have ‘reliable access’ to enough healthy food and 13 per cent lived in material deprivation, where families are unable to provide children with essentials like fresh fruit and vegetables or a warm winter coat. This compares to five per cent of children in all working families. In the wake of the report, the Health Foundation is calling for additional investment and reform for social care by the government to address low pay and poor working conditions.

Hugh Alderwick, director of policy at the Health Foundation said: “Social care workers – who are mostly women – play a vital role in society but are among the lowest paid workers in the UK, and experience shocking levels of poverty and deprivation. Many cannot afford enough food, shelter, clothing and other essentials, putting their health at risk.

“Sustained underfunding of social care has contributed to unacceptable pay and conditions for staff and major workforce shortages, with vacancies in England rising by 52 per cent last year. This reflects political choices. If government values people using and providing social care, it must act to tackle low pay and insecure employment conditions in the sector.”

He added: “People on low incomes are most likely to struggle through the current cost-of-living crisis, and poverty in the UK is set to increase. Yet government’s plan for growth prioritises tax cuts over investment in public services – with a further squeeze on public spending likely to follow.”

'Essential care is delivered by underpaid and mostly women workers'

In response to the report, Rachel Harrison, national officer for the union GMB said: “Care workers are an immensely skilled, compassionate workforce who do an incredible difficult job. Instead of being properly rewarded, they are expected to survive on a whisker above the minimum wage.

“Essential care is delivered by underpaid and mostly women workers. And without the dedication of our care workers the whole house of cards will come tumbling down. GMB is campaigning for care workers to be paid no less than £15 an hour – it’s the least they deserve.”

UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea echoed this sentiment, saying: “ “Put simply, wages are much too low. The social care sector won’t get back on its feet and deliver the support needed by millions if it can’t pay the rates needed to attract, keep and promote experienced care workers.

“This is a government which promised to fix social care, but ministers seem to have fallen asleep at the wheel.

“Previously, the government was happy to intervene and force care employers to sack unvaccinated staff. Ministers should get involved again and ensure all staff are paid at least the real living wage immediately.

"But that requires grown-up decisions on funding. Without proper action to arrest the decline in social care provision, the NHS will never clear its backlog."

To read the report click here