Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2015-10-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve working conditions for employees in the social care sector.

Alistair Burt

The Government has taken a number of measures to improve working conditions for employees in the social care sector.

The Government has taken action where social care providers have not previously paid the National Minimum Wage, to ensure staff receive the money owed to them and are paid fairly in future. The Government will introduce a National Living Wage from April 2016 to ensure care workers are better paid for the vital work they do. Guidance from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs has been updated to make it clear when staff must be paid for travelling time and rest breaks.

The Department continues to work closely with the social care sector to improve skills and is investing funding for training and developing the adult social care workforce.