A Homecare Association report of local authorities commissioning home care revealed that 27% of contracts fall below the minimum cost of employing a care worker at £12.21 per hour, including travel and training.

In addition, six councils in England, including Labour-led authorities, offered zero-percent uplift in 2025-26, despite 10-12% increase in cost on providers.

The average council fee rate is £24.10 per hour, compared to the Homecare Association’s Minimum Price of £32.14 per hour.

Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England said: “Local authority commissioning rates do not allow care providers to comply with their legal responsibilities and this means that local government is complicit in exploiting care staff, which the Homecare Association’s recent report reinforces. Home care workers remain underappreciated, underpaid and undervalued, and as the government pushes to reduce international recruitment, how can they possibly expect domestic workers to join the sector, when this is the reality? There needs to be a robust, long-term commitment from the government to help fund social care which enables local authorities to pay at least fees which are capable of covering the National Minimum Wage at the very minimum.

“Homecare workers dedicate so much to our sector and those they care for, and this report identifies how unsupported they truly are by a government which fails to fund commissioners of care sufficiently to cover at least the minimum wage. Without a direct commitment from government, the risk of exploitation will intensify.

“We now need a direct commitment from the government that they will start to prioritise social care, otherwise, vulnerable individuals will be left to face the consequences.”