The Fair Pay Agreement for social care: What does it mean for you?

The Fair Pay Agreement for social care has been discussed for the last few months and would be a negotiated agreement between employers and bodies that represent care workers, such as trade unions or employers’ associations, that will agree upon minimum pay thresholds and conditions for people working in care. 

While many have cited the Fair Pay Agreement (expected to be introduced soon), will serve as a positive step forward in ensuring fair pay and better working conditions for care workers, there are areas of concern that suggest an agreement like this could increase costs to local authorities. 

Recently, there was much debate over whether the care sector would be able to assume the added expense of the National Insurance increase that came into effect in April 2025. With budgets already stretched thin, care providers are left with a similar limited scope to absorb the extra costs.

What challenges could the Fair Pay Agreement face? 

The reality of any Fair Pay Agreement, however, is that government funding is essential to make it work. Without central government funding that can be funnelled into localised commissioning for care providers, many care homes could struggle to meet higher wage demands that would, if the agreement is legislated as intended, place a legal obligation on employers to meet wage thresholds. More still, the set wage structure would likely create a baseline of pay, meaning that more senior positions would also see their wages increased as a result in order to avoid wage stagnation. 

The Department of Business and Trade’s assessment what while the agreement would improve living standards, health and wellbeing for care workers, the impact on providers could lean more negative due to increased costs. 

The department said it would expect the costs of the fair pay agreement would “likely lead to higher costs for local authorities’ commissioning services and for self-funders”, with the higher council costs potentially requiring more funding from central government. 

Are you ready for the Fair Pay Agreement? 

If the Fair Pay Agreement goes ahead as intended, then we will likely see funding come from central government, but if you’re looking for ways to save on expenditure, click here to read more about our ideas to save money that we shared ahead of the National Insurance increase, but are just as relevant here.