Social care: Labour urged to commit to care worker pay increases

A blueprint for social care reform is calling for higher wages for care workers, including a new minimum wage for those who work in adult social care of £11.45 an hour.

A Fabian Society report says a Labour government should commit to 10 years of care reform and increased funding.

The report also says greater regulation of care home providers is necessary.

Labour's Wes Streeting and the union Unison commissioned the report on plans for a future National Care Service.

The Labour-affiliated think tank came up with the proposals, which would apply to England, for the shadow health secretary and the health service union.

But the report says very little about capping the costs of social care - an issue that has been kicked into the political long grass for years.

The report says the immediate priority - should Labour take power - would be to tackle recruitment and retention.

Along with a new minimum wage of £11.45 an hour, employment rights for care workers would also be improved.

There is little doubt that this is in line with the Labour's leadership thinking.

In a wide-ranging speech to the GMB union this week, Sir Keir Starmer promised "a fair pay agreement for every care worker in the country and the deal...will set a new floor, a higher floor for wages".

By 2028, the report envisages the new National Care Service would be set up.

This would be separate from the NHS, with care homes still predominantly privately owned. But, there would be greater public oversight and higher standards.

The report recognises that providers would need to be better funded - arguing that more than £7bn has been spent by councils on care homes which are inadequate.

While the case for more funding is set out, the report is rather shy when it comes to specific numbers.

It says Labour should make a promise to increase real terms funding by a "significant percentage each year".

"Significant increases for adult social care are essential and inevitable," the report said.

Insiders say that, with Labour under fire from opponents for specific spending commitments on green policies, there is a reluctance to set out specific sums in other areas well before an election.

But critics are more concerned that the report has largely ducked the question of the lifetime cost of care for individuals.

In a 2011 report, for the then Conservative-Lib Dem coalition, the economist Sir Andrew Dilnot recommended a cap on social care costs of between £25,000-£35,000.

This was never implemented. But Boris Johnson's government did commit to capping lifetime care costs at £86,000.

However the current chancellor Jeremy Hunt delayed implementation until 2025 - pushing it until after the next general election.

Labour have denounced this as "another broken Tory promise".

But the Fabian Society report suggests a care cap should simply be "considered" as an option by Labour, with reform of means-testing as another possibility.

It is perhaps unsurprising that some of those with knowledge of the care system are now accusing Labour of ducking the issue.

Charles Tallack from the independent charity the Health Foundation said the report "fudged crucial questions about social care costs".

"Options for reform are well known - including building on a cap on care costs - but the missing ingredient is political will," he added.