Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve pay across the adult social care sector.

Ensuring workers in the United Kingdom receive fair pay for their work is a key pillar of the Plan to Make Work Pay. Building on the foundations of the creation of the National Minimum Wage, we will make sure that that minimum wage is a real living wage that people can live on. We will change the Low Pay Commission’s remit so that wages will reflect the need for pay to consider the cost of living. The Government has also committed to removing age bands so that every adult worker benefits, and we will work to ensure that the living wage is properly enforced.

In addition to these changes, we know that those working in social care have been ignored for too long. They will be at the heart of our initial reforms and we will start by engaging with the sector to deliver a long overdue new deal for care workers. This will include establishing the first ever Fair Pay Agreement for care professionals, working with trade unions and workers, and learning from countries where Fair Pay Agreements operate successfully.