Care workers are getting a national pension scheme and their own workforce plan. Here's what the Health Secretary announced and why it matters for the NHS.

What was announced for social care?

1. 1A national pension scheme for care workers. It's the first national collective pension scheme for people working in care, and Unison had campaigned for it. Right now, care workers build up a small pension pot with each employer they move between. A collective scheme is one fund that follows them from job to job, much like the NHS Pension Scheme does between trusts.
2. 2A workforce plan for social care. It will cover career pathways, training and specialist skills for care staff, and open up more ways for people to start a career in care.
3. 3A fair pay agreement. It sets legally binding minimum pay and conditions for every care employer in England. This one was already underway, with £500 million set aside for the first agreement.
4. 4A champion for unpaid carers. A new national champion will be appointed to support unpaid carers. No more detail has been given yet.

Why is this happening now?

Social care can't recruit from overseas the way it used to. The care worker visa closed to overseas applicants in July 2025, and the number of people arriving in the UK to start care jobs fell from 105,000 to 30,000 in 2 years. The number of British care workers has also fallen every year for the last 5 years, by 130,000 in total, so the sector now has to recruit and keep its staff from within the UK. Therefore pay, pensions and a career are what these announcements are about.

Why does it matter for the NHS?

Care workers and NHS healthcare assistants (HCAs) do similar work for much the same pay. In December 2025, the median care worker in the independent sector earned £12.60 an hour, within 15p of an HCA on band 2 or new to band 3. But an HCA is automatically enrolled in the NHS Pension Scheme, while a care worker gets whatever pension their employer offers.

On any given day in 2025/26, there were 96,000 vacant posts in adult social care in England. On the wards, that shows up as patients who are ready to leave hospital but are waiting for a care home place or care at home. Not every delay is down to social care, but in August, 13,833 patients a day were still in an acute bed after they no longer needed to be there. That's what makes this the government's problem as much as the care providers'. NHS England put the cost of those delayed bed days at £241 million in August alone, and the National Care Service the Prime Minister announced yesterday can't run without these critical staff.

When will it happen?

The workforce plan is due by the end of the year. For the fair pay agreement, unions and employers start negotiating in April 2027, and the first agreement comes in from April 2028. No start date was given for the pension scheme, and its design and cost haven't been set out. The National Care Service itself is due to come in phases in the next Parliament, and Baroness Casey's commission on adult social care is due to report by summer 2027.