Last Updated on February 26, 2026

The latest workforce data shows the median hourly rate for care workers was £12.60 in December 2025, just 39p above the National Living Wage. Pay in the adult social care sector in England, as at December 2025, newly published by Skills for Care, also outlines how a growing proportion of staff are sitting on or just above the minimum wage.

The data shows that 26% of care workers are now paid on or within 10p of the National Living Wage, up from 22% earlier in the year. Experienced staff earn on average just 10p more than those new to the sector. Nearly half of the workforce will need a pay uplift in April simply to meet the new £12.71 statutory minimum, affecting around 640,000 roles and 90% of independent providers.

Commenting on the lates findings, Rachael Dodgson, Chief Executive at Dimensions, said, 'Skills for Care's latest pay report clearly shows social care finances under extreme strain. The Government's increase in employers' National Insurance alone has cost Dimensions around £6 million this financial year – a sum that would have funded round-the-clock support for 28 people in that same time frame.

'Government must act. Social care needs a fully funded Fair Pay Agreement [(FPA)] – far more generous than Government has put forward – and a workforce plan which prioritises career progression for adult social care. Care and support providers cannot be expected to deliver nationally agreed pay standards without sustainable investment from Government. This pay must be channelled through local authorities at rates that reflect the true cost of care.

'We at Dimensions will continue working with UNISON and others to press Government for the long-term funding reform social care urgently needs. If we are serious about valuing skilled frontline professionals, funding must match this ambition.'

Professor Vic Rayner OBE, Chief Executive Officer at the National Care Forum (NCF), said, 'We welcome the publication of Skills for Care's latest "Pay in the adult social care sector" report. The data that Skills for Care collect and publish remains the most comprehensive and authoritative source of workforce evidence in adult social care.

'The analysis released [...] provides vital insight that will help inform and shape our thinking as we move toward implementing a[n] [FPA] for the sector. High quality workforce intelligence such as this is essential for designing a fair, deliverable and properly targeted system of pay, progression and recognition across adult social care.

'The findings in [the] report are stark. Care workers received their lowest average percentage pay rise in six years, and experienced care workers earn barely more than new care workers; this is unsustainable. Urgent action is needed.

'The Government’s [FPA] offers a significant opportunity to take a different approach by setting out a consistent, fair, and transparent pay framework. This opportunity will only be realised if the FPA is backed by long-term funding, robust infrastructure and immediate interim measures that support providers during the transition.

'We must also recognise that ongoing pressures, including National Insurance contribution increases and successive rises in the [National Living Wage] are already undermining the ambitions of ethical providers fighting to sustain commitments to Real Living Wage and enhanced terms and conditions that recognise the skills and expertise of the workforce.

'We need Government to work with the sector to support activity to deliver a sustainable workforce plan that ensures we have the right people, with the right skills, in place for the future. The measures contained within the workforce strategy collectively created by a range of social care organisations, including Skills for Care and [NCF], offer a solid foundation that can be built upon.

'We need new, future focussed approaches that embrace technology, reflect the evolving nature of care and support work and people's changing expectations about the care and support they need, and create genuine career structures that enable people to progress, specialise and be properly rewarded. The not-for-profit social care and support sector and [NCF] stand[s] ready to work with colleagues across the sector and Government to help realise these goals.'

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive at Care England, said, 'There is a danger that we look at these numbers and see percentages, when what we are really looking at are people. We are talking about carers who support someone to get out of bed in the morning, who manage complex medication, who sit with families in the hardest moments of their lives. When experienced staff are earning just 10p more than someone brand new to the role, something is not working properly.

'Providers want to reward experience. They want to build proper progression into the system. But if the funding they receive only stretches to the minimum wage, there is nowhere else to go. That is not a failure of goodwill. It is a consequence of long-term underfunding.

'At the same time, frozen tax thresholds mean that as wages go up, more is taken back. In Care England’s Silent Pay Cut work, we showed that by the time the first [FPA] comes into force, care workers will have lost around £1.4 billion cumulatively as a result of frozen thresholds. The year following its introduction, close to £1 billion will be removed from care workers' take-home pay in that year alone.

'That is money that would otherwise sit in workers' pockets. Our data shows just how exposed the workforce is to that effect. And this is not abstract. It is the difference between feeling secure and feeling stretched. It is about whether turning the heating on feels like a decision rather than a given, whether the food shop needs to be trimmed back, whether there is anything left once the rent and bills are paid.

'That is why headline increases do not automatically translate into felt improvement. Care workers may be earning more on paper, but not enough more to change their day-to-day position in any meaningful way. When tax and threshold policy quietly absorbs part of each increase, the practical effect is that policy gives with one hand and recovers with the other. Reform that does not result in a tangible improvement in take-home pay will inevitably struggle to retain the trust of the workforce it is intended to support.

'If the [FPA] is going to mean something, it has to result in a genuine improvement in what care workers actually receive. Otherwise we risk telling them they are valued, while leaving their day-to-day reality largely unchanged.'

To read Pay in the adult social care sector in England, as at December 2025, visit the Skills for Care website.

In other news, Government has announced that it is set to increase the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) by 7% from April 2026.