On the Corona Frontline: The Experiences of Care Workers in England

It documents trade union campaigning on the health and safety of workers, the lack of or inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE), sick pay, accommodation and access to testing as well as their fight for longer-term reform, emphasising how the immediate problems in the sector are connected to its longer-term systemic issues. These campaigns have also focused on shifting public opinion about the status and value of care work and the need to address structural inequalities.

Unlike the free-at-point-of-use National Health Service (NHS), social care is means-tested in England. With no single national budget, it is commissioned and purchased through local authorities and delivered through a complex system of private, public and voluntary-sector providers as well as professionals and informal carers, with overlapping accountability. Most services are delivered by for-profit companies and the sector is hugely fragmented and disparate, with 18,500 employers across nearly 40,000 establishments.

The pandemic has highlighted long-standing issues with the sector including long-term underfunding and an undervalued, underpaid, low-status workforce exposed to exploitative employment practices and a lack of career progression. Staffing is in crisis with high vacancy rates and high turnover. The sector suffers from market failure, with providers frequently closing down or handing back their contracts to local authorities.

Read the full report here.