Paying carers at real living wage could help ease NHS crisis, campaigners say

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The Living Wage Foundation estimates that raising the salaries of tens of thousands of social workers could encourage more staff into the sector, easing pressure on health services

Raising caregiver salaries could ease the pressure on hospitals (

Image: Getty Images)

Fair pay campaigners are tonight demanding a pay rise for carers in a bid to ease the NHS crisis.

Experts believe that increasing the portfolio of hundreds of thousands of social workers could encourage them to stay in the sector and attract new employees.

Analysts estimate there are 165,000 vacancies for caregivers, alongside 132,000 in the health service.

Stresses on social care mean that thousands of hospital patients who have recovered and are well enough to leave remain stuck in the NHS.

The Living Wage Foundation said raising caregiver salaries could strengthen the sector and allow more patients to leave hospital, freeing up space for new admissions, reducing wait times to the hospital and reducing ambulance delays.

Writing exclusively for the Mirror, Real Living Wage campaigner Rachel Flint says tonight: 'It's time to get to the root of the crisis in the NHS.

Real Living Wage activist Rachel Flint writes exclusively for the Mirror

“The government must fix our broken health and social care system and pay social workers the real living wage they deserve.

“Caregivers – as the pandemic has shown all too clearly – do one of the most vital jobs in our society. "Yet social care remains one of the lowest paying sectors in our country, with more than half of the 1.62 million social workers in England earning below the real living wage.

"The industry is so poorly paid that people don't - or can't - stay."

Tens of thousands of carers are only paid the legal minimum: £9.50 an hour for workers aged 23 and over, £9.18 for staff aged 21 and 22 and only £6.83 for employees aged 18-20.

In contrast, the Real Living Wage, set by the Living Wage Foundation, is £10.90 an hour, rising to £11.95 in London, and it does not differ by age.

The Mirror campaigns for fair care for all - and our demands include that care workers be paid the real living wage.

Director of the Living Wage Foundation, Katherine Chapman, said: 'Social workers play a vital role in our society, but social services remain one of the lowest paid sectors in the UK.