PLAID Cymru was urged to match PM Andy Burnham’s social care ambitions by fully funding the sector’s fair pay agreement by 2028 and removing profit from all social care in the country, Unison Cymru said today.

The Labour leader suggested that he would tackle profiteering in the care sector as he vowed difficult decisions to overhaul England’s adult social care system on Wednesday.

“Andy Burnham is right. Profiteering through unnecessary and dangerous cost-cutting in the sector must end,” said the union.

“It puts vulnerable people at risk and leads to exploitation of care staff. In Wales, private equity firms now account for more care places than local authorities. This results in lower wages and poorer conditions for workers.

“If Wales can remove profit from children’s care, it can do the same for adult social care. Only with a national care service will there be a chance of saving our overstretched NHS and ensuring fair pay for staff.”

The Welsh government has been contacted for comment.

Three in four care homes in Wales are run by for-profit providers, according to a TUC Cymru and Unison report published last month.

The only significant growth in supply of care home places between 2020 and 2025 came from investment firm-owned providers, which now supply 17 per cent of places, a larger share than local government, the study found.

Unions have called on the Welsh government to extend its commitment to remove profit from children’s care to all forms of social care, including adult care homes.