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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| The costs and benefits of paying care home workers in the UK the living wage. | | Author(s) | Hilary Ingham, Sally-Marie Bamford, Geriant Johnes |
| Corporate Author | Joseph Rowntree Foundation - JRF |
| Journal title | Findings, 3163, October 2015 |
| Publisher | Joseph Rowntree Foundation - JRF, York, October 2015 |
| Pages | 4 pp |
| Source | https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/costs-and-benefits-paying-al... |
| Keywords | Registration officers ; Remuneration ; Cost benefit analysis ; United Kingdom. |
| Annotation | This research investigated earnings below the Living Wage (LW) for staff in care homes for older people. It looked at what the costs and benefits of increasing pay might be and identified how this pay increase could be funded. It found that low pay in care homes is widespread, but differences emerge by gender, age, type of provider and geographical area. The estimated annual wage cost of paying the LW to all care home staff in 2014 is £830 million for the UK, increasing to almost £1 billion when National Insurance and pension contributions are factored in. Paying higher wages reduces the need for in-work benefits, conservatively estimated at £19 per week per household in 2014. This LW would not therefore necessarily bring about significant increases to household income for low-income households. The new National Living Wage announced in the Summer 2015 Budget will affect at least 50% of care home workers. Including National Insurance and pension contributions, it would cost £387 million per year for the UK. Proposed reductions to in-work benefits mean that many low-income households will lose out on any potential gains in income. Care homes with self-funded residents are most likely to be able to afford a wage increase whilst providers heavily dependent on local authority funding are least likely, given that local authorities fees are currently failing to cover the cost of residential care. The most compelling funding option is for central government to make more funds available to care home providers, given that it will receive additional funds from increases in tax and national insurance receipts and reductions to in-work benefits payments. The net public sector cost of the LW would be £286 million per year. (NH/RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-160205239 P |
| Classmark | QRN: WL: WEA: 8 |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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