Years of austerity left the UK “hugely unprepared” for the Covid-19 pandemic, a new report has found.

The Austerity and the pandemic TUC report says safe staffing levels in health and social care were undermined by multiple years of pay caps and pay freezes, which impeded recruitment and increased staff turnover, leaving both sectors dangerously understaffed when the pandemic began.

In social care, the turnover rate for staff in England increased from 22% in 2012/13 to 31.8% in 2019/20.

When the pandemic hit, a quarter (24%) of social care workers in England were employed on zero-hours contracts, with the turnover rate higher among these workers, the report says.

The report was published yesterday as the TUC held a joint press conference with the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice about the lessons that must be learned through the inquiry, to save lives in the future.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “To learn lessons and save future lives, we must take an unflinching look at the choices made by our leaders in the years before the pandemic.

“In the NHS and social care, funding cuts put staff levels in the danger zone. Cuts to social security pushed many more people below the poverty line, leaving them more vulnerable to infection. And cuts to health and safety left workers exposed to rogue employers who cut corners and put their lives at risk.

“Austerity cost the nation dearly. It left us hugely unprepared for the pandemic. And it left far too many workers unprotected. The consequences were painful and tragic.

“The inquiry is our chance to learn the lessons – and to understand why we have to rebuild our public services so that they are strong enough to protect us in a future crisis.”

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive at NHS Providers, said: “Long-standing cracks in the healthcare system meant the NHS entered the pandemic from a disadvantaged position.

“Successive years of pay caps and pay freezes in the run-up contributed to challenges for staff recruitment and retention, depleting the health and social care workforce.

“Worryingly, this is a persistent issue with nearly 280,000 gaps across both sectors unfilled and some unions still striking due to dissatisfaction with pay.

“Trust leaders want to see an urgent resolution to the ongoing pay disputes through discussions between both sides in good faith.

“The long-term workforce plan for NHS staff, which must be fully funded and costed by the government, would go a long way to address these staffing issues.   

“It is desperately needed, as is one for social care, whose workforce funding was halved recently.”

Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, said: “Austerity may have played a part in the ability of the system to response to Covid, but this was only part of the story, and the fact that everybody focused on the NHS as an organisation, rather than looking peoples needs was a major reason why we were ill prepared at the start of this pandemic.”

A government spokesperson said:  “We are committed to learning from the Covid inquiry’s findings, which will play a key role in informing the government’s planning and preparations for the future.

“We provided around £400 billion of support during the pandemic to protect lives and livelihoods, and can be proud of the way our public services responded to deliver one of the fastest vaccine rollouts anywhere in the world and support children learning from home.

“Now we are putting record amounts into our public services, including billions more for the NHS, schools and social care, while delivering cost of living support worth £3,300 per household on average over this year and last.”