Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of increasing social care funding to enable an inflationary wage increase in order to help close the recruitment gap in that sector.

No assessment has been made. The Local Government Finance Settlement makes £54.1 billion available in 2022/23 for local government in England - an increase of up to £3.7 billion on 2021/22 or over 4.5% in real terms. This will ensure local authorities can respond effectively to pressures facing the adult social care sector. The vast majority of care workers are employed by private sector providers who ultimately set their pay, independent of central government. Local authorities work with care providers to determine a fair rate of pay based on local market conditions.