Care home staff are more than twice as likely to live in poverty compared to the average worker, a health charity has revealed.
Analysing data from 2021/22 to 2023/24, the Health Foundation found that one in five care workers lives in poverty, while more than one in 10 experience food insecurity.
Eight out of 10 jobs paid more than the average care worker wage of £12 an hour in 2024, while many care workers are on zero-hours contracts and face exploitation.
Lucinda Allen, policy fellow at the Health Foundation, said: 'Around one in every 20 working people in England is employed in social care. Enhancing pay and working conditions in the care sector could be an important part of the government’s growth agenda, improve people’s lives, and help fill the 131,000 social care vacancies.’
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