North East mayor Kim McGuinness at the launch of the Great North in Leeds. Photo: LDRS. Free to reuse for all LDR partners.
The North East mayor has urged the Government to guarantee all care workers in England a real living wage.
Kim McGuinness and Greater Manchester counterpart Andy Burnham have demanded immediate action to lift hundreds of thousands of carers out of low pay and ensure they can meet basic living costs.
While care workers in both Scotland and Wales earn at least the real living wage, which now stands at £13.45 an hour across the UK and £14.80 an hour in London, the same does not apply in England.
Health secretary Wes Streeting made a £500 million commitment last month to give care workers a pay increase from 2028, but the two Labour mayors have warned that an uplift “cannot wait” in order to help struggling workers now and improve staff retention in the care sector.
Analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) last year found that 400,000 care workers in England were paid less than a real living wage, 43% of the country’s total care workforce.
In a letter to Mr Streeting on Wednesday, published by Citizens UK and the Living Wage Foundation, Ms McGuinness and Mr Burnham wrote: “This action to lift more than 400,000 care workers out of low pay would improve staff recruitment and retention and reduce pressure on our NHS. We welcome the commitment of £500 million towards the Fair Pay Agreement but believe a real Living Wage for care workers cannot wait until 2028 and should be introduced immediately.
“Care is skilled work, which requires you to be responsible for someone in their hour of need. No one taking on this responsibility should be paid the bare minimum.
“Scotland and Wales have both already introduced policies ensuring care workers are paid at least the real Living Wage. It is time for England to do the same and guarantee at least the real Living Wage for every hour worked, including sleep-in shifts and in-work travel time.
“Analysis by IPPR found that it would cost the Government £330 million to guarantee care workers the real Living Wage. To put this into perspective, that is less than 2% of last year’s social care budget, a modest investment to make sure those who care for others are paid enough to take care of themselves.
“We know the Government shares our ambition for fair pay in the sector and we stand ready to work with you so we can deliver for social care workers as soon as possible.”
The real living wage is higher than the legal national minimum wage, which is £12.21 an hour for those over the age of 21, and is based on what is needed to cover the basic living costs of household goods and services.
The Department of Health and Social Care was contacted for a response.
