Fight For Your Right To Care

So the good news is that this summer, the UK Government announced its intention to establish a Fair Pay Agreement, targeted to give workers in the adult social care sector the long-overdue recognition they deserve. The proposed agreement will establish minimum pay standards for care workers, introduce collective bargaining between employers and worker representatives, and afford new rights to trade unions operating in social care workplaces. The Employment Rights Bill, first published in October 2024, has laid the groundwork for this positive move.

The bad news is that the Fair Pay Agreement will apply to England and not to Wales.

That’s mitigated by the fact that the Employment Rights Bill’s proposals include creating a social care negotiating body for Wales, which could lead to a Fair Pay Agreement being established. And the current Welsh Government has expressed support for the bill and for enhanced rights and recognition for care workers. If the sector is adequately funded – and that may become a big if – then Welsh women and men working in adult social care may well get the recognition they deserve.

The “big if” gets bigger when we contemplate next May’s Senedd elections. Please excuse a statement of the obvious, but if Welsh voters put power in the hands of people who understand the value of adult social care and respect the professionals who provide it, the chances of the sector’s workforce being properly remunerated and protected are dramatically increased.

The real news is that there’s a will in this country to recognise the value of care workers. To recognise the value of professionals who routinely shoulder responsibility, make decisions and improve lives with skill and resilience that put far better paid, far less capable people in other walks of life to shame.

There’s a will among a population that was left reeling by the impact of COVID-19 at the dawn of the 2020s and was sheltered from the storm by care workers who put themselves in harm’s way to offer protection and compassion when it mattered most.

There’s a will among the politicians who actually live here, put down roots here and care about what happens to their friends and neighbours.

What happens next is up to you.

Because you have a voice.

You can speak up for your right to care and be cared for

And now is the time to do it.

The People’s Library is organising a series of social care forums in 2026 that will give you a platform to speak up for the things you believe and the things you want, and to challenge the people who claim they’ll deliver those things for you.

You live in a democracy, and your leaders are answerable to you.

Let’s give them some questions to answer.

Let’s fight for our right to care.