MORE than half of all care workers have been victims of violence, including being bitten, headbutted and choked, at work, a GMB investigation has found.

In the past five years, nearly 6,500 have suffered injuries serious enough to prevent them from doing their job for at least seven days, according to data released in response to a freedom of information request.

More than 1,200 of the victims suffered a “specified injury,” which can include broken bones, brain injury, amputations and loss of consciousness, the figures from the Health and Safety Executive show.

The union warned that the true number of assaults must be higher as many incidents would go unreported.

In a separate survey of more than 1,700 GMB care workers, 52 per cent said they had been physically assaulted at work, while two in three have been verbally assaulted while on duty. 

One worker told the survey that they were “just battered at least once a month.” 

Another said: “I have been punched, slapped across the face, spat at, scratched and bitten.” 

A third said they had been choked and punched and a fourth said that a patient had knocked eight of their teeth out.

The union is calling for the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act to be extended to cover care workers, so that individuals found guilty of attacks would face tougher sentences.

GMB national officer Will Dalton said: “Care workers face physical violence day in day out, including the kind of attacks that would be treated criminal offences in most other jobs. 

“Carers do a tough, skilful physically demanding job, usually for pennies above the minimum wage. They do it because they are dedicated and want to do the best for the people they look after. 

“But as the care staffing black hole shows, that dedication has its limits. 

“When attacks do happen, care workers need to be taken seriously and backed to the hilt by their employers — that’s why GMB is calling for better risk assessments and tougher sentences for those found guilty of attacking care workers. 

“Ultimately, carers need to be paid a minimum of £15 per hour if we don’t want the entire system to collapse.” 

In 2023-24, violence accounted for 39 per cent of all reported workplace injuries in the residential care sector.

Across the whole of Britain’s workforce, the equivalent figure is 9 per cent.