Page 12 - Unfair-To-Care-22-23-Flipbook

UNDERSTANDING THE GAP
THIS MEANS A SOCIAL CARE WORKER WOULD NEED A 41.1% PAY RISE TO ACHIEVE PARITY WITH THEIR COUNTERPART IN THE NHS, DOING THE EXACT SAME ROLE.
This figure is based on a comparison between Average Support Worker Pay (outside London) and NHS Mean Total Pay, and therefore, actually underestimates the extent of the gap in real terms. When we compare NHS Mean Total Package (factoring in entitlements such as pension and sick pay) with Average Support Worker Pay (including industry standard pension contributions), the gap is actually a staggering 64%.
Average Support Worker pay7
Basic annual salary
£19,573
Basic salary as hourly rate
£10.01
Band 3 NHS Healthcare Assistant – mid point
Basic annual salary
Basic salary as hourly rate
£22,447
£11.48
‘Total Pay’8 salary
‘Total Pay’ as equivalent hourly rate
£27,609
£14.12
SECTION 3: THE 2022-23 RESULTS
In summer 2022, the Government announced pay rises for more than one million NHS staff. For the lowest paid, they guaranteed at least £1,400 – equivalent to a pay rise of almost 10% - whilst dentists and doctors received 4.5% extra3.
As health leaders slammed these uplifts as inadequate and tantamount to a pay cut in the face of escalating inflation, social care was once again absent from the public and political narrative about the cost-of-living crisis.
In response, Community Integrated Care recommissioned Korn Ferry to provide updated data, allowing us to benchmark the care sector against its publicly-funded peers. The findings (using data provided in July 2022 and October 2022) were startling.
Using an average pay rate for an NHS Band 3 Healthcare Assistant for comparison – a role that had been analysed by Korn Ferry and confirmed to be equivalent in skills, duties and responsibilities to the experienced social care worker4 – we found that:
The salary of the NHS Healthcare Assistant – before overtime and enhanced hourly rates – rose to £22,4475, following the latest pay rises.
This is 14.7% more than a social care worker doing exactly the same job for a salary of £19,5736.
But, unlike many social care workers, NHS employees can access enhanced pay that is significantly
above standard hourly rates – e.g. for unsocial hours, night shifts, weekends and bank holidays.
When just a typical amount of this benefit is factored into the pay comparison, the real disparity between the two identical roles is made clear.
In fact, on average, roles in this pay band take home £27,609 per year as their ‘Total Pay’.
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3. Government press release, 19th July 2022: ‘NHS staff to receive pay rise’
4. Unfair To Care – Understanding the pay gap and how to close it, Community Integrated Care. July 2021
5. NHS Agenda for Change Pay Scale for 2022/23. Band 3 mid-point between ‘entry step point’ and ‘top step point’ calculated at £11.48/hr
6. Figures used are average rates for Support Worker roles in England (outside London) and are taken from the National Care Forum’s Workforce Review, October 2022
7. Figures used are average rates for Support Worker roles in England (outside London) and are taken from the National Care Forum’s Workforce Review, October 2022
8. Total Pay includes enhancements for evenings, weekend, unsocial hours etc. Based on an typical amount of this enhanced pay factored in