The Real Living Wage is only earned by a quarter of care workers across England. Whilst paying the Living Wage is a voluntary rate this is also one which reflects the true cost of living and how much it is calculated an individual needs to live in the area in which they work.
There are some disparities across the country with London and the North East having even less care workers being in receipt of the living wage from their employers: 10% and 18% respectively. The South East was a beacon for a fairer wage with almost half of care workers in that region receiving the living wage.
The increased demands on the pool of individuals working within the care sector will continue to be stretched with competing sectors seeking to pay better wages. It is clear that the ability to pay wages for employers in the sector is determined by the fees that are received to meet the costs of the employer and its ability to continue to provide a good level of service to users of the service. In the absence of an increased offer to all providers the ability to meet the real living wage for the sector will continue to be out of reach for the majority of the sector.
