Great care helps us all live better lives
Great care helps us all live better lives
Every one of us will need care or knows someone who does.
Social care isn’t a safety net for the few, it supports millions of people every day. It’s the foundation that holds families, friendships and whole communities together.
It helps older and disabled people live with dignity and independence. It supports families to stay in work. It creates jobs in every part of the country. It keeps money flowing through local businesses in every town.
But right now, social care is too often overlooked, undervalued and underfunded by politicians who just don’t care.
Care About Care seeks to change that.
We are campaigning to make politicians sit up and listen. To show how great social care is transformative to people, communities and our country. To make sure the Government knows that when it invests in care, it is investing in creating a brighter future for us all.
A stronger safety net for people needing care. A stronger economy, with skilled jobs in every town. And stronger communities, where more people can live life how they want.
It’s time to Care About Care.
Social care in numbers
We are fighting for a better social care future for us all.
We all want the same thing: to live in a place we call home, with the people we love, in communities where we feel comfortable and we look out for one another. Social care makes that possible for millions of people, every single day.
Despite being essential to so many of us, politicians have ignored social care for over 20 years. Budget cuts. Tax rises. Fewer people getting the care they need.
For social care to become a national priority, we must make the case for its importance more loudly and more clearly.
This campaign is about making sure the Government invests in building a care sector we can all be proud of. A system that delivers for everyone.
It’s time to Care About Care
The Government talks about creating a ten-year plan for social care. But if you need care today, can you wait ten years for them to act? Millions of people rely on the social care system every day, and millions more of us will need it in the coming decade.
Without a strong social care system, the NHS will collapse. That’s what’s at stake, and why we need change today.
Our three demands will increase the quality of care available to people who need it, increase the pay of care workers, and ensure care services serve our communities, not American investors.
1. A tax cut on care work; a pay rise for care workers
Big taxes for employing care workers means there’s less money to invest in pay and training for professional care workers. Labour’s Employer National Insurance increase has taken billions of pounds out of the pockets of everyday people.
We want targeted Employer National Insurance relief for frontline care workers, using a mechanism that the Government already applies to apprentices, veterans, and businesses operating in freeports. This will unlock billions of pounds to be reinvested in care worker pay and training.
Adult social workers have nearly a decade of experience on average, yet those in local authorities are around 5.5% worse off in real terms than they were eight years ago. We don’t think that’s fair.
2. Fair funding, fair treatment for all
What could you do with £7? That’s how little the Government pays for the care of someone needing social care – money that needs to cover 24/7 professional care workers, great training, and high-quality accommodation.
It’s not enough. Social care is an essential public service that is chronically underfunded by a Government that just doesn’t care. Worse still, they know the true cost of providing great care – and choose not to pay it.
We want a fair cost of care to be independently calculated and funded, for care providers to be paid on time, and for the Government to stop driving thousands of older people into poverty through massive social care charges that drain their life savings.
3. Invest in local care providers, not American investors
Most care services are owned and operated by local people. They are small businesses and charities that hire local workers, pay UK takes, and invest in the community they serve. But Government policies are forcing them to close – and when they do, it’s American investors that swoop in.
One American company now owns over 10% of the UK’s care homes. Do the wolves of Wall Street care about you, your community, and the people who need care – or just their profits?
We want the Government to back British care providers through a new ‘British Care Fund’ that provides grants to helps small care providers invest in improving their services. Upgrades to care homes and investment in new technology will increase the quality and availability of care for everyone.
It’s time to Care About Care
Our Demands
Millions of people rely on the social care system every day, and millions more of us will need it in the coming decade. Our three demands will increase the quality of care available to people who need it, increase the pay of hard working care workers, and ensure care services serve our communities, not American investors.
- A pay rise for every care worker – by reversing the damaging National Insurance increase, the Government can ensure every care worker gets an immediate pay rise. More money in their pockets means more money spent in our communities.
- A fair cost of care – fund care services based on an independently calculated ‘fair cost of care’ which will further boost care worker pay, training opportunities, and the quality and availability of care for those who need it.
- Keep care services British-owned – a new “British Care Fund” would invest in infrastructure upgrades to small, British-owned care services so they can continue to serve their communities, not American investors.
Behind every family there is someone who cares.
1.6 million people choose to deliver care every day. They’re the person who helps your mum get dressed with dignity. The support worker who gives a young disabled man the confidence to catch the bus alone. The live-in carer who becomes part of the family.
On average, care workers have 8.4 years of experience. They manage complex medical needs, support people through the most vulnerable moments of their lives and do it for less than they would earn stacking supermarket shelves or delivering parcels.
This is skilled, experienced and deeply human work. It deserves recognition, proper investment and a clear future. The people who choose to care deserve to be valued, through financial reward, and the option to learn and be supported to build a fulfilling career.
Investing in care grows our towns and villages.
Social care is a vital public service – but it’s also the economic engine at the heart of every local community. It creates jobs in every town and village, keeps money circulating in local businesses, and frees up millions of unpaid carers to choose the option of participating in the wider workforce.
Most care in Britain is provided by small- and medium-sized organisations rooted in the communities they serve. They are local employers and part of the social fabric of their area.
When government invests in care, the returns ripple outward through every community in the country.
The future of care is the future of Britain.
By 2040, we’ll need 470,000 more care roles. It’s a generational opportunity to build a modern, professional care workforce in every corner of the country. To create meaningful high-skill careers which AI can’t replace. To design a system that helps every person live the life they want. Other countries have shown this is possible. Britain can do it too, but only if we choose to invest now.
Britain is deciding the future of care right now.
The Casey Commission is the most significant review of social care in a generation. Its chair, Baroness Louise Casey, is developing the blueprint for a National Care Service and has called for an honest confrontation with decades of Government underfunding and neglect.
We have the chance to build something together. But that will only happen if the British public demands it – and if the system we have today can survive until these new plans take effect.
We must make clear that care is not someone else’s challenge to resolve. It’s all of ours. It deserves the same ambition, the same investment, and the same national pride as the other care and support services like the NHS.
Join the movement for a care system that Britain can be proud of. One that values its workforce, invests in our communities, and gives every person the support to live the life they choose.