HIGH streets across Wales could be losing £126 million per year due to outsourced care workers being paid less than council staff doing the same job, researchers will reveal today.

Around three-quarters (75 per cent) of the Welsh social care workforce is employed by independent providers on worse pay than carers who are directly employed by local authorities, a Unison-commissioned report found.

Outsourced care workers take home around £2,500 less a year on average than someone doing the same job for a local authority, according to the study by the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE).

Authors added that this gap rises to around £8,500 on average when pensions are included in the estimates.

ASPE calculated that local high street businesses across Wales are losing out on this extra income, estimated to be around £126m a year.

Unison warned that failures in the care system and outsourcing fall on the shoulders of women, who often represent the lowest-paid workers.

Councils must consider the wider costs to the economy and to workers when deciding how local services are provided, the union said, as it urged more services to be brought back in-house.

Unison Cymru head of local government Darron Dupre said outsourcing “may look cheaper on a council balance sheet, but the costs don’t disappear.

“Staff have less to live on, local businesses lose spending and the state pays more in welfare support. 

“Low-paid women are bearing much of that cost. Councils should keep public money in local services and use it to provide decent jobs and better care.”

A home care worker from Cardiff, Sarah Evans, said she works full time and still struggles to get by.

“I care deeply about the people I support, but low pay makes it harder and harder to stay in the job,” she said.

“I’ve seen experienced colleagues leave for better-paid work even though they didn’t want to go.

“This is skilled, responsible work. I want pay that reflects the job I do and gives me the chance to live, not just survive.”

A Welsh government spokesperson said: “Social care workers play a vital role in supporting children, families and adults across Wales, and we are committed to ensuring the profession remains an attractive and rewarding career.”

They pointed to work already being done with the National Social Care Academy and the forthcoming Social Care Workforce Delivery Plan.