A National Care Service is within reach, and care workers are ready to help build it
The Care Workers’ Charity responds to the appointment of Yvette Cooper as Health Secretary
The Care Workers’ Charity warmly welcomes the appointment of Yvette Cooper as Health Secretary, and the Prime Minister’s commitment to building a National Care Service. Cooper returns to the department after more than twenty years, and she does so with something her predecessors rarely had: a clear mandate to build a system that has waited a generation for one.
A National Care Service is the first genuine chance in a generation to design adult social care as one system, built and funded as a whole. Every part of that system is ready to help. Local authorities want to commission care that meets needs. Providers and Local Authorities want the stability to keep delivering it. Unpaid carers want a funded system they can rely on. And care workers, the people who deliver care every day, want to be part of building something better. Our 2025 Wellbeing Survey shows how much is at stake for them: 57.4% identify low pay as the single biggest driver of their financial insecurity, and nearly 29% have used a food bank in the past year. A National Care Service is the opportunity to change that, for good.
The way to make it last is to build it with the whole system, and to stabilise the workforce it depends on from the start. There can be no National Care Service without the workforce that delivers it, and care workers are ready to help design it.
Karolina Gerlich, Chief Executive of The Care Workers’ Charity, said:
“I know how much care workers want the system to be better. The new Health Secretary has been given a real mandate, and as a former Chief Secretary to the Treasury she knows exactly what it takes to turn a promise into a funded reality. That gives me hope. Build a National Care Service with care workers at the heart of it, and it will be one that lasts. We are ready to bring her the evidence of what the workforce is living through, and to work with her, at pace, to get this right.”
The Care Workers’ Charity is calling on the new Health Secretary to:
- Co-produce the National Care Service with care workers, so the workforce helps design reform from the start.
- Fund the Fair Pay Agreement in full, and bring forward interim measures on pay and conditions ahead of 2028, so the workforce a National Care Service depends on is there to build it.
- Recognise care work as skilled work, with a fully funded career pathway that reflects its true value.
- Commit to a long-term funding settlement that lets care be commissioned at its true cost, giving the whole system a footing it can plan on.
NOTES TO EDITORS
Interviews available:
- Karolina Gerlich, Chief Executive of The Care Workers’ Charity, available for TV, radio and print interviews. Karolina is a former care worker, regularly briefs MPs and government on social care workforce policy, and has been quoted in national media including BBC News, the Guardian and the Times.
- Care workers with lived experience, The CWC can connect journalists with care workers willing to speak on the record about pay, working conditions, and reliance on the charity’s hardship grants. Case studies available on request.
About The Care Workers’ Charity (CWC)
The Care Workers’ Charity is the only UK charity dedicated to supporting paid care workers across the social care sector. We have provided over £7 million in crisis grants to over 14,200 care workers since 2020. We offer mental wellbeing support to care workers, ensuring they receive assistance during challenging times. The CWC provides accredited Mental Health First Aid training to care workers and other staff and advocates for policy changes to improve lives and working conditions in the UK. We participate in government roundtables, academic forums, and policy discussions, sharing insights from our grant applicants’ experiences. To learn more about our mission and initiatives, visit www.thecareworkerscharity.org.uk.
Registered charity no. 1207208. Registered office: Rushworth Studios, 63 Webber Street, London SE1 0QW
Media contact: Shanna Wells | shanna@thecwc.org.uk | 07930 992443