CARE home workers and their families are twice as likely to live in poverty as the average employee, a Health Foundation report revealed today.

The foundation found that one in five residential care workers lives in poverty, and more than one in 10 experience food insecurity.

It noted that 80 per cent of jobs in Britain paid more than the average care worker wage of £12 an hour in 2024.

The charity estimated that increasing wages to the level of clinical support workers in the NHS would significantly reduce poverty, resulting in an average 6.6 per cent rise in household income.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said earlier this month he would “shortly be setting out how we will deliver the first ever fair pay agreements for the care workforce.”

The spending review allocated an extra £4 billion for adult social care in 2028-29, but the Health Foundation warned that’s unlikely to cover growing demand or raise care workers’ pay meaningfully.

Health union Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “Until wages go up, the sector won’t be able to recruit the staff needed and gaps in the workforce will only increase as the UK’s population ages. 

“By finding the funding for a fair pay agreement that should see care workers rewarded properly, the government will be showing it’s serious about transforming the crisis-ridden sector.”

A government spokesperson stated that Labour has launched the first ever Fair Pay Agreement for carers, increased the National Living Wage, and delivered the biggest ever rise in the Carer’s Allowance earnings threshold.

“We have also launched an independent review into social care to build a National Care Service, which will also look at how we can improve working conditions and retention,” they said.