The Workers Union is once again sounding the alarm as new evidence confirms the plight of care workers across the country—underpaid, underappreciated and struggling to survive. A recent analysis by the Health Foundation reveals a stark and unacceptable truth: one in five care home workers and their families are living in poverty, while an alarming one in ten have to go without food.
This comes at a time when care workers remain the backbone of a sector critical to the health and dignity of millions of elderly and vulnerable individuals in Britain. Yet, while the need for care continues to grow, wages and working conditions in the sector have deteriorated alarmingly. The average hourly pay for a care worker in 2024 stands at just £12—meaning 80% of UK jobs pay more. This inequity not only highlights the undervaluation of essential work but further entrenches the poverty line for thousands of care professionals.
Wages that don’t stretch far enough
The Health Foundation’s data, gathered between 2021 and 2024, underscores the increasing economic fragility of care workers. Around 15% of workers in the sector rely on Universal Credit to bridge the gap between income and essential costs. Distressingly, 10% of children in care worker households are going without necessities such as warm winter coats—an unacceptable reality in a modern developed nation.
Lucinda Allen, Policy Fellow at the Health Foundation, stated: “Caring for older people and disabled people is vital and fulfilling work, but it has long been underpaid and undervalued. So many care workers and their families are struggling to keep up with bills, afford enough food, put savings aside, and provide warm clothing for their children.”
The current situation is described as a “sad state of affairs” by Patricia Marquis, Director of the Royal College of Nursing in England. She added: “It is unacceptable that those caring for some of the most vulnerable are forced to live in poverty, unable to pay for food and use welfare payments to top up their salaries. It is little wonder there are so many vacancies for the low income positions. When care homes cannot recruit enough staff it leaves too many without access to the care they deserve.”
A sector crying out for investment and fairness
The impact of low wages and insecure working conditions is not just felt by individual carers and their families—it ripples across the entire care ecosystem. Many care workers feel trapped in their underpaid jobs which for many are tied to zero-hours contracts, with few protections for sick pay or benefits. The Health Foundation warns that this model of work is leading to increasing levels of exploitation.
While the Government’s Employment Rights Bill and proposed Fair Pay Agreements offer potential lifelines, a lack of meaningful financial commitment threatens to blunt their impact. The Health Foundation estimates that aligning the pay of care workers with NHS clinical support and admin staff would increase household incomes by 6.6% on average, but would require £2.3 billion in additional funding by 2028/29.
Lucinda Allen further added, “Around one in every 20 working people in England is employed in social care. Enhancing pay and working conditions in the care sector could be an important part of the government’s growth agenda, improve people’s lives and help fill the 131,000 social care vacancies. The government must deliver on its promise of fair pay for care workers, alongside wider improvements to our care system.”
Reform on the horizon?
Since Labour came to power in 2024, efforts to untangle the long-standing crisis in adult social care have begun to take shape. The Casey Review—currently in progress—aims to lay the groundwork for medium and long-term transformation of care services in England. Its first phase, due in 2026, is expected to work within existing resources, while the second phase, reporting by 2028, will tackle the broader, structural issues surrounding funding and shielding care worker workforce development.
However, until meaningful reforms are implemented and backed by the required financial support, care workers will continue to bear the weight of a system teetering on collapse.
The consequences of underinvestment are already apparent: a sector struggling to recruit and retain UK care workers, vulnerable people left without access to basic care, and families of carers going hungry or living without heat.
The time has come to value care workers not just in words but in pay, policy and respect. This workforce is the human heart of our care system. Ignoring their plight risks not only worsening outcomes for those who need care but also eroding the very moral fabric of our society.
