Fair pay for social care staff will help fix crumbling NHS says Angela Rayner

The Deputy Labour Leader said she was "frustrated" by however the attraction strategy has been allowed to fragment nether the Tories

A just wage woody for attraction unit volition assistance hole Britain's creaking NHS, Angela Rayner says - adding she's personally "frustrated" that the UK's attraction strategy has been allowed to "fragment".

The Deputy Prime Minister told the Sunday Mirror proposals for a just wage woody for attraction unit were the "jewel successful the crown" of the Employment Rights Bill.

She spoke to this paper during a sojourn to IKEA successful Warrington - the Swedish flat-pack elephantine has been a trailblazer, committing to a surviving wage for each employees and championing workers rights.

There were a staggering 130,000 vacancies successful attraction successful the UK past twelvemonth - with 1 successful 4 workers leaving the assemblage successful 2023/24.

Labour has projected a ‘Fair Pay Agreement’ for attraction workers successful the Employment Rights Bill presently passing done Parliament.

It would mean a cardinal attraction workers and unions would beryllium capable to travel unneurotic to negociate amended industry-wide pay, presumption and conditions.

Ms Rayner said Labour’s program would assistance to capable the vacancies - allowing radical with analyzable needs to beryllium cared for successful their ain homes astatine a fraction of the outgo of infirmary stays.

"People tin enactment successful IKEA for a batch much than they bash for giving idiosyncratic attraction to radical successful their ain homes,” she said.

“That's created a situation successful our NHS due to the fact that we've got an aging colonisation with much analyzable attraction needs, and we don't person the attraction workers successful the community."

IKEA is the largest accredited Living Wage Foundation retailer - pledging to wage employees astatine slightest the "Real Living Wage" of £13.15 an hr successful London and £12 an hr successful the remainder of the UK.

The median hourly complaint for big societal attraction workers successful the UK was £11 an hr successful December 2023 - conscionable 58p supra the minimum wage, which astatine the clip was £10.42 per hour.

At the time, 19% of workers were connected the "wage floor" of the minimum wage - with 60% paid little than the 2024 summation of the minimum wage to £11.44.

She went on: "The vexation for maine is that radical haven't grasped that. I don't cognize if that's due to the fact that it's a predominantly pistillate sector, that was considered manual enactment before.

“But if we conscionable person that leap, to look astatine wherever the grounds is and enactment with the attraction assemblage and those that privation to supply the attraction services successful the communities, we could present a translation for our elder colonisation that merit amended attraction - but besides prevention the taxpayers immense sums of money."

Ms Rayner said much than 3 cardinal workers are already benefiting from changes to the committee that recommends increases to the nationalist surviving wage - which volition person to instrumentality the outgo of surviving into relationship erstwhile mounting the rate.

“We're successful IKEA and places similar IKEA volition payment due to the fact that they've been delivering a existent surviving wage for immoderate time,” she said.

“Now radical that travel into their stores are going to person much wealth successful their pocket.”

Ms Rayner took a circuit of the furnishings megastore, speaking to store level unit and gathering with apprentices - earlier admitting she’d ne'er tried either the chain’s celebrated meatballs oregon Daim cake.

“All I’ve had is the ginger biscuits, you know, conscionable to support my ginger up,” she said - but aft our chat, a subordinate of unit arrived with a tray of Daim barroom for her and her squad to try.

We spoke astatine the extremity of a challenging week for No10 - which connected Wednesday was besieged by a Barbour-clad service of aggravated farmers, furious astatine Labour’s program to adjacent inheritance taxation loopholes for the richest landowners.

“The erstwhile authorities gave 25 abstracted taxation rises to radical successful the UK, highest taxation load connected record,” she said. “You can't propulsion that lever [again] and the Chancellor understands that.

“Yes, we've made immoderate hard choices astir inheritance taxation but protecting astir farmers wrong that. But we've said that to bash that we've been capable to put successful our nationalist services and it's the close determination to make.”

As a erstwhile attraction worker, Ms Rayner said the projected changes to societal attraction wage and conditions are “very idiosyncratic to me”.

“Adult societal attraction for is ever talked astir arsenic if it's a burden. A outgo pressure,” she said.

“But I cognize it doesn't person to beryllium a outgo unit due to the fact that I've seen it successful enactment erstwhile we've invested successful the workforce.

“The erstwhile Labour authorities did that. We had minimum standards successful care. each of that arsenic fragmented now.”

Some attraction assemblage employers person complained it volition summation costs for section councils - but Ms Rayner insists the task is simply a “win-win”.

“If we person this just wage statement that it's projected arsenic portion of our employment rights bill, alongside the minimum wage, we tin present analyzable attraction packages successful people's ain homes astatine a fraction of the outgo of what we're paying astatine the infinitesimal for radical to beryllium kept successful infirmary erstwhile they don't request to be.

“And really the much that radical are successful hospital, the much clip it takes for them to beryllium rehabilitated and to get good again, particularly if you're of the older population.

“So it's really amended attraction for radical and it costs the payer truthful overmuch little and attraction workers get a wage emergence and a vocation structure. There's there's nary losing successful this.”

She added: “It costs truthful overmuch much wealth to support idiosyncratic connected a trolley oregon support idiosyncratic successful a furniture erstwhile they can't get the attraction astatine home.

“So if we were conscionable to put successful that attraction sector, we would prevention immense sums of wealth successful the NHS. and that's wherefore the just wage statement nether the employment rights bill, to maine is the jewel successful the crown of that bill.

“Because that volition present a important magnitude of the outcomes that we request to present due attraction services for radical successful this country”