As part of Labour’s Annual Conference, I sat on the Future Social Care Coalition’s panel ‘Why is workforce reform critical to getting social care done?’. I believe that workforce reform is crucial to fixing social care. This is why Labour are backing a new deal for care workers, which gives them the pay, training, and term and conditions they deserve. This should start with a guarantee that care workers are paid at least £10 an hour.

There is also a strong economic case for paying our social care staff more. Social care jobs are local jobs, and money will be spent in local economies, therefore supporting local businesses and revitalising local communities.

We need to tackle the high vacancy and turnover rates in social care, and work alongside staff and providers to ensure the crisis in the social care workforce is tackled in the upcoming Comprehensive Spending Review.