Released On 19th Dec 2023
New minimum price for homecare published
The Homecare Association has published its Minimum Price for Homecare for April 2024 to March 2025.
It has calculated this minimum fee rate for the purchase of homecare by local authorities and the NHS at £28.53 per hour. This allows for full compliance with the new National Living Wage (£11.44) in April 2024 and the delivery of sustainable, good quality, regulated homecare services.
The minimum price has increased from last year (£25.95 per hour) because of a 9.8% increase in the National Living Wage from April 2024, and inflation in operating costs.
The Homecare Association stresses the importance of paying care workers much more than the legal minimum. This is to recognise the skill and responsibility of their roles and to improve retention and recruitment of staff.
Also reported are the equivalent fee rates required in England, based on the Real Living Wage, the London Living Wage and for NHS Band 3 with 2+ years’ experience (including a supplementary figure for this band in Outer London). A fee rate of £30.31 per hour is required to pay careworkers an equivalent wage to an NHS Band 3 Healthcare Assistant with 2+ years’ experience (or £34.34 per hour for Outer London).
The Government set aside money in the Autumn Statement 2022 explicitly to improve fee rates for care providers via the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund. They expect that this will amount to £683m in 2024-25.
However, to allow the homecare sector to pay similar wages to the NHS for equivalent roles would cost over £2bn per year (without considering the rising demand for social care, changes in terms and conditions or associated costs in other parts of the social care sector, such as in care homes).
Dr Jane Townson, Chief Executive of The Homecare Association said, ‘Too many local authorities and the NHS continue to commission homecare at fee rates far below the true cost of delivering care. Persistently underestimating providers' costs risks diminishing the availability of services, the experience of the workforce, and providers' ability to comply with the legal requirements placed on them.