The Fair Pay Agreement (FPA) in adult social care offers a unique opportunity to improve pay for care professionals. With the right foundations, the sector can move towards fairer rewards and ultimately better care for all. However, success will depend on broad, informed representation, robust long-term funding, and a clear, realistic scope.

The task ahead is not an easy one, with many complexities and challenges for the new negotiating body to overcome. This is why MHA has put its views to the Department for Health and Social Care’s consultation on how the Adult Social Care Negotiating Body will work when it begins to develop the first ever FPA for adult social care.

Funding concerns

We highlighted how funding remains a significant worry. It is inevitable that the FPA will drive up the costs of care. The Government contribution is £500 million of un-ringfenced funding for local authorities. However, in our experience, we know that many councils have not covered increased costs in care, such as when the higher employer national insurance contributions kicked in last year. Without full funding, the FPA could have unintended consequences that risks destabilising the care market, alongside massively increasing costs for self-funders. Local authorities are key to the success or failure of FPA, their involvement and commitment must be secured.

Setting the Scope

We also strongly suggested that the scope of the FPA should be narrow at first, focused on care workers pay only, to avoid further unintended detrimental consequences. Moreover, the negotiating body must also have in mind the importance of maintaining pay differentials to support career pathways and avoid undermining both workforce development and recruitment and retention in other sector roles. Linking the FPA to training, benefits or workplace culture as was consulted on, at least initially, risks complicating the main issue about pay.

A Focused, Informed Approach

Finally, we have stressed that the negotiating body must understand the diversity and intricacies of the sector, recognise best practices, and be informed by robust data. As such, the Chair and Trade Unions representatives must have experience and understanding of the different types of providers, care models and diversity of job roles operating within the sector. In particular, we want to see the charitable providers of care, like MHA, strongly represented and recognised for the current good practice, values and person-centred focus we have.

The negotiating body must also listen to people with lived experience to strengthen the legitimacy, practicality and fairness of the FPA, ensuring that its design works for people who rely on the care system as well as for those who work within it.

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