A little appreciated aspect of social care is that it doesn't get much attention. Louise Casey is uniquely placed to focus minds and draw attention.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Also important to note that the Home Office's *own figures* imply that care workers/dependents are a fiscal *benefit* in terms of the government's fiscal rules (and on every year for next 30 years).
It is Mahmood who has a fiscal "black hole" to fill.
Very good to hear Louise Casey’s full throated support of Fair Pay Agreements to tackle endemic low pay in the care sector. Care workers, generally women, are grossly underpaid.
Our research at JRF also found that higher pay helps providers too, with fewer staff leaving.
I wrote about some of these issues, and some of their solutions, in this piece for IPPR
www.ippr.org/articles/who...
The system ‘doesn’t really exist’ - there hasn’t been a vision for what the care system should be.
In part, that’s because of a lack of funding - ‘years of austerity’ - and lacking political backing. We need a ‘moment of reckoning’.
Watching Louise Casey’s speech at @nuffieldtrust.org.uk Health Summit.
She traces the history of care from 1948, where Beveridge’s lack of focus on social care was in large part down to lower life expectancies & unpaid care.
That’s changed but she says ‘we haven’t looked it in the face’.
And yes I know that better pay and conditions in care would make the sector more attractive to British citizens and reduce the need to fill vacancies from abroad. But FPA is not framed as giving ‘low skilled workers’ more rights - it’s framed as giving undervalued workers the rights they’re due.
One was in the manifesto and represents deeply held Labour values around worker power. The other is a knee-jerk reaction to growing nativism which concedes the argument to them.
Aside from everything else, deeply confused policy from govt here. Is care work (a major driver of migration) low skilled?
Or is it, as another govt Department thinks, worthy of better pay and conditions through better collective bargaining (the Fair Pay Agreement policy)?
Graft, insurgent politics and the class politics of the left. At JRF we’re thinking hard about what the new labour market needs & what the politics of that might be.
A quote from Abby Jitendra Principal Policy Adviser at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on a report on care workers pay from Cordis Bright. "It's right that the Government is improving care worker pay through Fair Pay Agreements. Care workers aren't paid enough for the important work they do. But low pay doesn't just cost care workers. It makes it harder to recruit and retain staff and the hidden costs are huge. We need better pay for care workers if we want a more productive, fairer care sector."
It’s right that the Government will improve care worker pay through Fair Pay Agreements. Care workers aren’t paid enough for the important work they do.
But as well as the cost to care workers, there’s also the hidden cost of low pay. A 🧵
Continuous open goal for the Greens. Be the party of social justice and openness in urban areas where Labour voters have been told for years they aren’t Labour’s people.
Key Employment Rights Act protections have broad support from the public. Why would a frontrunning populist party want to rip them up?
Undoing the sexual revolution, repealing the Renters’ Rights Act…literally every day these guys add a new liability to the pile.
👀
The rising minimum wage is one of the most popular social policies in recent history.
This is very good news - disabled people relying on social care will be able to keep more of their own money.
www.gov.uk/government/n....
Trade unions are pretty popular! The reluctance to make the case for strengthening them, seems to stem from a historic and now misplaced belief, that unions are still unpopular. Amazing how people who claim to guided by "what the people want" so often fail to look at actual public opinion.
Nothing like enjoying your slightly cheaper pint while imagining the toddler crying from hunger that paid for it.
Last week I asked MPs why we couldn't finally get paternity pay for self-employed dads who are shut out of the system.
Glad the govt is thinking about how to fix this problem!
www.thesun.co.uk/news/politic...
🗣️ ‘Work should be the best route out of poverty’
Analyst @franladouch.bsky.social explains that for millions across the UK, employment is not the safety net from poverty that it should be.
Recent employment reforms are a good start, but the government must go further to protect working families. 🔽
The population is getting older and we don’t have a plan to meet growing and changing care needs.
More policy people need to be worrying about this!
🔎 Want to hear more from our experts?
Interested in research at the forefront of the policy discussion on how to reduce poverty in the UK?
Then our starter pack is for you! Give our colleagues a follow so you can be kept up-to-date on all of our latest work and analysis.
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More appalling news from dystopia central
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Maternity and paternity leave in this country leaves parents in hardship.
That’s if you even qualify - low paid self employed people get even less (or none at all). In the 21st century this should be a national scandal. Good to speak to the Beeb about this!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
As ethnonationalism re-emerges as a defining characteristic of the Right, equality must return as the distinguishing feature of the Left
New @ippr.org paper in today's @theguardian.com
This is one of the best things I read this year, and it deserves a reshare. Lots to disagree with but the writing is just incredible. I read the last paragraph to my mum in the car and she said she got chills.
www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...
🎙️ Hear from our Lead Analyst @datataha.bsky.social as he speaks in depth to the team at @wecarecampaign.bsky.social about a range of topics, including our recent briefing on the care expectation gap.
Employment Rights Bill passed - a milestone. Wrote earlier in the year about how it'll transform the lives of many precarious and low paid workers.
www.jrf.org.uk/work/how-the...
V good and important. Not enough discussion of growing unemployment & a lack of jobs, particularly for young people, in the debate about getting people into work.
