Care Workers Must Be At The Centre of Workforce Reform: The Care Workers’ Charity Responds to LGA’s Care Where We Live Report.
The Care Workers’ Charity has today responded to the Local Government Association’s Care Where We Live report, welcoming its findings whilst making clear that words alone will not be enough.
The report, drawing on contributions from thousands of professionals, people drawing on care and members of the public, confirms what The Care Workers’ Charity hears every single day: adult social care is a sector in crisis, and the people holding it together are being failed. Our 2025 Care Worker Wellbeing Survey found that 72% of care workers do not feel financially secure, 81% have been directly impacted by the cost-of-living crisis and 71% do not believe the Government will fix the current issues facing the sector. These are not just statistics, they are the daily reality of a workforce that is being asked to do more with less, and with no clear end in sight.
The LGA report rightly describes adult social care as skilled work requiring judgement, expertise and relationship-building, and calls for the Fair Pay Agreement to be fully funded and grounded in operational reality. The Care Workers’ Charity echoes this without reservation, but goes further. Fair pay is not enough on its own, the entire sector requires adequate, sustainable and ring-fenced funding, not short-term settlements that paper over structural cracks. Without that, no workforce strategy, however well-designed, will succeed. Since 2020, The Care Workers’ Charity has administered over £6.9 million in crisis grants to more than 14,000 care workers, many of whom turned to us because their pay does not cover basic living costs. When care workers doing essential, skilled and vital work need a charity to remain in employment, the promise of a Fair Pay Agreement due in 2028 offers little comfort today.
The report calls for a new public narrative, one that recognises adult social care not as a service of last resort but as something that enables people to live with dignity, independence and purpose. The Care Workers’ Charity has been making this case for years. Care work is skilled, complex and high-responsibility. It is also chronically undervalued, underpaid and misunderstood, and the consequences are visible everywhere: high turnover, persistent vacancies and a workforce that feels invisible.
Critically, the report argues that reform must be developed with people, not presented to them once decisions have already been made. The Care Workers’ Charity has built its entire advocacy approach on exactly this principle. Through our Care Worker Advisory Board and Champions Project, 40 care workers from across all four nations of the UK are already shaping national policy conversations with the Department of Health and Social Care, the Care Quality Commission, the Health Foundation and academic institutions including Oxford and Sheffield University. Their knowledge cannot be found in a Government consultation document, it can only be found in the day-to-day reality of the work itself. That knowledge must not continue to be an afterthought, it must be the foundation.
Karolina Gerlich, CEO of The Care Workers’ Charity, said:
“This report says clearly what care workers have been telling us for years: that the system is not working, the adult social care workforce is undervalued and that reform will only succeed if it is built around the people at the heart of care. We welcome the LGA making that case so forcefully. However, this sector does not need more acknowledgement; it needs action, and it needs it now. That means not only adequate funding for the Fair Pay Agreement, but adequate funding for the entire sector. You cannot build a sustainable care system on goodwill and crisis grants. Care workers are not waiting for 2028. They are making decisions about whether to stay in the sector today, and we are running out of time.”
The Care Workers’ Charity calls on the LGA, local Government, the Casey Commission and the Government to commit to building a care system that truly works for everyone, with care workers placed firmly at its centre. That means fully funded workforce reform delivered now rather than deferred to 2028, meaningful co-production that brings care workers into the rooms where decisions are made and a national narrative that finally reflects the skill, commitment and humanity of the people who hold this sector together. The CWC remains firmly committed to working with all stakeholders in the adult social care sector to build a sector that works for all.
For further information, please contact Jade Dewey at the Care Workers Charity: jade@thecwc.org.uk.
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 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 £6.9 million in crisis grants to14,203 care workers since 2020. We offer mental well-being 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. www.thecareworkerscharity.org.uk
Broadcast-ready clips, b-roll, photography and care worker case studies available on request.