Responding to the latest analysis by Skills for Care of pay rates for care workers in the independent adult social care sector, Dr Rhidian Hughes, Chief Executive of the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG) said:
“The social care workforce sits at the heart of our communities by providing 24/7 support to those who need it most. The Voluntary Organisations Disability Group and our members have long called for better recognition and reward for social care workers and the essential contributions they make to improving the lives of millions of disabled people.
‘Despite investment and every effort made by voluntary sector providers, a median pay of only 39p above the national living wage exposes a system that fails to recognise, retain or reward the experience and expertise of social care workers. Public sector fees are not keeping up with costs meaning pay progression is falling behind and too many staff are being pushed out of the sector.
'If the Government is to deliver on its workforce ambitions and making Fair Pay Agreements transformative, we need to reframe the way services are funded and commissioned.
‘Disability services are almost entirely funded by the state. Without sufficient public funding to ensure local authorities can cover the full costs of the workforce, we will continue to be caught in a loop of increasing costs without additional public funding being made available. It is a myth that not-for-profit organisations can somehow find ‘other sources’ of funding to cover statutory provision.
'We cannot keep running social care on a financial model that struggles to reward the very people who keep our communities safe and cared for, while allowing private providers to profiteer and extract value from frontline services.
'The work delivered by social care workers is not optional, it allows people and communities to live the lives they want to lead and must be valued as the essential public service it is.’
Notes
Skills for Care Pay in the Adult Social Care Sector Report presents Skills for Care's estimates of the median pay of care workers in the independent sector as at December 2025. At the time of analysis the National Living Age was £12.21. The Real Living Age was £13.45 outside of London and £14.80 inside London.
The analysis finds that the Care Worker median hourly rate at this time was £12.60 (wuth regional variation from £12.45 to £13.00).