Page 63 - Unfair To Care 2024 - Who Cares Wins

8 IN 10 MPS (80%) AGREE THAT THE NEXT GOVERNMENT MUST ACT TO IMPROVE PAY, AND TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR SOCIAL CARE WORKERS
As with social care worker pay, there is a large difference in views across parties, 68% of Conservative MPs agreed, compared to 96% of Labour MPs (78% strongly agreed).
IN GENERAL, THE MAJORITY (75%) OF MPS BELIEVE THERE SHOULD BE NO DIFFERENCE IN PAY BETWEEN AN NHS WORKER OR SOCIAL CARE WORKER IF THEY ARE DOING JOBS THAT HAVE EQUIVALENT SKILLS, COMPLEXITY, AND RESPONSIBILITIES
NET: Agree
80% 68% 96%
5%
39%
41%
9%
2% 2% 4%
5%
Don’t know
Total
Strongly disagree
Conservative
Somewhat disagree
Labour
Somewhat agree
Strongly agree
63%
SECTION 8: MOBILISING THE SOCIAL CARE VOTE
78%
18%
13%
22%
Question: To what extent do you agree or disagree that the next government must act to improve pay, and terms and conditions for social care workers?
Base: All MPs (107), Conservative (59), Labour (33), Scottish National Party (9), Other (6)
6% 7% 6% 9% 8% 9%
75%
69%
Question: Imagine a social care worker and an NHS worker were doing jobs that had equivalent skills, complexity and responsibilities. Do you think the NHS worker or social care worker should earn more, or should there be no difference?
Base: All MPs (107), Conservative (59), Labour (33), Scottish National Party (9), Other (6)
7%
78%
16%
11%
Total
Don’t know
There should be no difference
Conservative
The NHS worker should earn more
Labour
The social care
worker should earn more
THE PICTURE IN SCOTLAND
In this report’s poll of MSPs, we focused directly
on the issue of pay parity, exploring whether they believe that NHS and social care workers delivering equivalent roles should receive equal pay. This demonstrated that the support for pay parity is 14% stronger in Holyrood compared to House of Commons (89% of MSPs compared to 75% of MPs).
This near unanimous sentiment from MSPs perhaps not only recognises a moral point – that workers providing an equally important public service, with an equivalently sized job role should be treated
with equality – but an important practical one too: a recognition that partial concessions towards fair pay are less effective. Scotland’s social care workforce turnover rate has increased by 5.5% in 2023, despite providing a guaranteed minimum rate for social care workers, above the national minimum wage.
NEARLY 9 IN 10 (89%) MSPS FEEL THERE SHOULD BE
NO DIFFERENCE IN PAY BETWEEN AN NHS WORKER OR SOCIAL CARE WORKER IF THEY ARE DOING JOBS THAT HAVE EQUIVALENT SKILLS, COMPLEXITY, AND RESPONSIBILITIES
11%
The social care
worker should earn more
The NHS worker should earn more
There should be no difference
Don’t know
89%
Total
Question: Imagine a social care worker and an NHS worker were doing jobs that had equivalent skills, complexity and responsibilities.
Do you think the NHS worker or social care worker should earn more, or should there be no difference?
Base: All MSPs (19)
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