“Today’s announcement on social care goes some way to tackling chronic underfunding of the sector. But to make a real difference – both to quality of care and for the Prime Minister’s levelling up agenda – increased funding should be tied to boosting the pay and working conditions of social care staff. ​

​CPP is calling for government to introduce the Real Living Wage, which would mean that the average full-time social worker working for an independent provider would see their annual earnings rise by £1,300 in England, with those in former ‘red wall’ areas seeing their annual earnings rise by more than £1,700. ​

​Before the pandemic, poor conditions resulted in high-turnover rates, lack of investment in training and substantial workforce shortages. With the fall out of Brexit on the wider labour market – see: lorry drivers and hospitality– social care now risks losing more staff to other sectors. CPP calls on the government to put money directly into the pockets of hard working, frontline care staff by introducing the Real Living Wage, helping to level up wages for thousands of workers across the country.” ​