'Claps didn't pay the bills' for care workers says Labour's deputy calling for £10 an hour wage

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner is demanding an increase to care workers’ wages to at least £10 an hour to end the shame of "poverty wages".

During a speech at the UNISON women’s conference, Ms Rayner highlighted that failing to give care workers wages that they can live on is “morally wrong”.

“Our social care workers were underpaid and undervalued even before this crisis struck.

“Claps didn’t pay the bills last year and it should be a source of shame for Tory ministers that the very same people who have been putting their lives on the line to care for others throughout the crisis are being paid poverty wages that mean they are struggling to support themselves and their own families."

Labour wants to see higher wages for care workers who are aged over 25 and currently receiving the minimum wage. The national minimum wage for workers over the age of 25 is £8.72 an hour.

The real living wage is set by the Living Wage Foundation at £10.75 in London and £9.30 elsewhere in the UK. Half of frontline carers are paid less the real living wage, according to the Resolution Foundation.

The Labour party says increasing social care workers’ pay to at least £10 an hour would result in rises of up to £3,500 a year, which Ms Rayner argues would help secure the economy and contribute to the post-COVID-19 recovery.

Low pay is 'holding back our economy'

“It isn’t just morally wrong that so many of our care workers do not earn a wage that they can live on, it is also holding back our economy" said Ms Rayner.

“These pay rises wouldn’t be squirrelled away in an offshore account, every extra pound in the pocket of an underpaid key worker will be spent in local businesses, on their local high street and will help to secure our economy.”

Labour's deputy leader also calls for an end to what she describes as the “scandal” of care workers being paid less than the minimum wage as she states that they are not currently paid for time spent travelling between individual care visits.

“It is bad enough that three-quarters of our care workers are not being paid the living wage, but it is a disgrace that so many care workers are being exploited and mistreated in this way with their pay packet for the hours they work falling well below even the minimum wage.

“If a care worker works an eight-hour day they should be paid for an eight-hour day. That is not complicated and it is not too much to ask for the government to uphold the law.

“The government must act immediately to end this scandal and ensure that social care staff are paid what they are entitled to under the law.”

Some 42 per cent of home care workers are employed on zero-hours contracts according to a report by Skills for Care.

A report published by the charity Age UK last year highlighted low pay and a recruitment crisis in the sector with 122,000 care sector job vacancies.