The Homecare Association welcomes the Resolution Foundation's new report "Unstable Pay," This provides robust data confirming the earnings volatility we have long witnessed in the homecare sector. The findings align with our own research and the daily experiences reported by our 2,200 provider members across the UK.
The report reveals social care workers face average monthly earnings fluctuations of 21% – substantially higher than the 14% average across all sectors. For many homecare workers, this translates to income swings of hundreds of pounds each month, equivalent to a family's entire food and clothing budget.
While the Resolution Foundation highlights important concerns about employment rights, their analysis does not emphasise the fundamental cause of pay volatility in homecare: how public bodies commission and purchase homecare services.
The root of earnings insecurity in homecare is not lack of employment rights, but "zero-hours commissioning" by local authorities and the NHS who:
- Pay for client contact time only, not for travel time between visits.
- Stop payments immediately if clients go into hospital.
- Offer no guaranteed volume of work to providers.
- Pay inadequate hourly rates that do not cover essential costs.
Research by the Homecare Association shows only 1% of homecare contracts with public bodies pay rates that cover actual delivery costs, and the average local authority fee (£23.26 per hour) falls significantly below the minimum price for sustainable, quality homecare (£32.14 per hour) from April 2025.
Dr Jane Townson OBE, CEO of the Homecare Association, said:
"The Resolution Foundation has quantified what homecare providers and workers have known for years – our sector suffers from endemic earnings instability that undermines recruitment, retention, and quality of care. This isn't new information to us, but it's powerful validation that should prompt immediate government action.
"The scandalous truth is that zero-hours working at low wage rates in homecare is directly driven by zero-hours commissioning at low fee rates by public bodies. Local authorities and the NHS commission care in ways that make stable income impossible, while simultaneously lamenting workforce shortages.
"The upcoming Employment Rights Bill is well-intentioned but will be utterly ineffective unless the Government also tackles the fundamental commissioning and funding failures in social care. Legislation that increases employment costs without addressing how care is purchased will only drive more non-compliance, push more care into unregulated arrangements where workers have no rights at all, or put providers out of business.
"We need immediate action to outlaw zero-hours commissioning, implement a National Contract setting minimum fee rates, and move to shift-based rather than minute-by-minute purchasing of care. Without these changes, careworkers will continue to shoulder the burden of a broken system through volatile and inadequate pay."
The Homecare Association calls on the Government to address these issues through:
- Outlawing zero-hours commissioning and procurement practices that drive a race to the bottom.
- Implementing a National Contract for care services with legally binding minimum fee rates.
- Reforming how care is commissioned, with a move to geographic zone-based approaches and payment for shifts rather than minutes.
- Providing immediate funding of £1.8 billion to address the homecare deficit and enable stable, fair employment.
--ENDS--
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