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A qualitative study exploring the priorities, experiences and progress of paid care worker organising in England, with a focus on pay, conditions and worker voice.
Key messages
Policy implications
Gaps
Commentary
This study provides insight into how paid care workers in England understand their working conditions and the role of organising in addressing long-standing challenges. Participants described organising as both a response to low pay and poor conditions and a way of asserting professional identity within a marginalised sector.
The findings show that care workers often feel disconnected from decision-making structures that shape their work. Organising activities were framed as efforts to make everyday realities visible to employers and policymakers, rather than solely as formal union activity.
Considering care equity, the study highlights how unequal power within the workforce affects both workers and the people they support. When care workers’ voices are excluded from policy and practice, inequities in pay, security and conditions are sustained. These workforce inequities have downstream effects on continuity and quality of care, particularly in a sector employing large numbers of women and people from marginalised groups.
Overall, the paper suggests that supporting care worker voices is not only a labour issue but a care issue. Strengthening avenues for collective input may contribute to fairer working conditions and a more equitable and stable care system.
A study examining safety inequities experienced by people with learning disabilities in English health and social care, drawing on lived experiences from focus groups and patient feedback narratives.
A systematic review examining interventions designed to reduce inequities in dementia diagnosis and post-diagnostic care across multiple countries, focusing on individual, community and health system solutions.
A qualitative study examining how newly qualified social workers in England experience and respond to racism in practice, and how social work education prepares them to challenge racism in health and social care contexts.
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Analysis examining how social policies in England and Wales fail to address the needs of Autistic adults, focusing on barriers in health services and social care systems.
A study examining safety inequities experienced by people with learning disabilities in English health and social care, drawing on lived experiences from focus groups and patient feedback narratives.
A systematic review examining interventions designed to reduce inequities in dementia diagnosis and post-diagnostic care across multiple countries, focusing on individual, community and health system solutions.
A qualitative study examining how newly qualified social workers in England experience and respond to racism in practice, and how social work education prepares them to challenge racism in health and social care contexts.
A national study exploring practical solutions to reduce inequalities in dementia diagnosis and care across England, drawing on workshops with people with dementia, carers, professionals and third sector organisations.
A policy-focused review examining barriers to dementia care access for Black and minoritised communities in the UK, highlighting gaps between national policy ambitions and local service delivery.
