Open consultation

Fair pay agreement process in adult social care - consultation document

Published 30 September 2025

Applies to England

We are preparing an impact assessment to demonstrate the potential effects of the proposed options in this consultation. This includes further detail that you may use to inform your response, including on the costs, benefits and wider impacts of proposed options.

Once available, the impact assessment will be published alongside this consultation document.

Ministerial foreword 

Adult social care workers are the unsung heroes of our country. Their care, support, emotional intelligence and hard work are crucial in providing support to over a million adults in England. As a nation, we should be proud of the 1.5 million people who provide high quality care and support to allow people to live fulfilled and happy lives.

But for too long they have not had the voice and recognition they deserve. That is why this government will establish the ‘Adult Social Care Negotiating Body’ and introduce fair pay agreements for the adult social care sector in England.

This body will be a platform for worker representatives in the sector to negotiate constructively with employers. It will be an opportunity to right the historic wrongs in the adult social care sector - low pay, poor conditions and a lack of career prospects. Through fair pay agreements we will help make the sector a more attractive place to work and stay in.

Fair pay agreements are part of the government’s plan to Make Work Pay. This is a core part of the mission to grow the economy, raise living standards across the country and create opportunities for all. It will deal with the low pay, poor working conditions and poor job security that has been holding our economy back. The Employment Rights Bill is the first step in implementing the plan to Make Work Pay.

And this is only the first part of how we will improve the care sector and build towards a national care service. In parallel with this work, Baroness Louise Casey is continuing her independent commission into adult social care, looking at how to build a care sector for the future.

We are making tangible improvements in the short term through our Plan for Change and laying the foundations for a national care service that will enable more people to live independently and improve the quality of care. This includes:

• funding 8,000 more home adaptations for disabled and older people
• the largest uplift to the Carer’s Allowance earnings limit since the 1970s
• new standards for care technologies
• expanding the Care Workforce Pathway, which is the first ever national career structure for adult social care

This is new, transformative and wide-reaching reform. We are consulting on a number of areas, such as how the negotiations to reach a fair pay agreement should work and who should be involved. Care workers, trade unions, service providers and other sector leaders are the real experts. To ensure that it works for everyone in adult social care, we need your views and insights.

Background 

Every day our 1.5 million-strong adult social care workforce provides vital care and support to people of all ages and with diverse needs, including mental health conditions, physical disabilities, learning disabilities, autism and dementia.

The committed people who make up the care workforce are essential to those who draw on care and support, helping them maintain their quality of life, independence and connection to the things that matter most to them.

Yet adult social care is a historically low-paid sector - most care workers are paid at or just above the National Living Wage. In 2023 to 2024 around 21% of posts in the adult social care sector were employed on zero-hours contracts, compared to 3.5% in the wider economy, and around half of the direct-care workforce held a relevant social care qualification.

Having enough staff is essential to ensure people can access quality care as well as helping to reduce pressure on the NHS. However, the sector has challenges with recruitment and retention. According to Skills for Care recruitment and retention data, adult social care had a turnover rate of 25% for independent providers in the financial year ending March 2025. Evidence shows that the above issues contribute to this, especially low pay.

International recruitment has played a valuable role in helping to grow the adult social care workforce and has given the health and care sectors the benefit of the skill and commitment of overseas workers who wish to work in the UK. However, it is the government’s policy to reduce reliance on international recruitment in adult social care and improve domestic recruitment and retention. We recognise the scale of reforms needed to make the adult social care sector more attractive and to improve the retention of the domestic workforce. Fair pay agreements will be central to achieving this.

A fair pay agreement is an agreement that will set minimum standards for pay and terms and conditions, enforceable by law. It can also address wider employment matters such as training opportunities and career progression for the adult social care workforce.

The agreement in England will be reached through negotiation. To do this, we are introducing a form of sectoral collective bargaining in adult social care. This is the process where workers, represented by trade unions, negotiate with their employers to agree on pay, terms and conditions, and wider employment matters. Once the negotiated fair pay agreement is implemented, it will apply to all workers who are covered by the agreement, whether they are a member of a trade union or not.

We are doing this at a national level, by setting up the ‘Adult Social Care Negotiating Body’ (ASC Negotiating Body). This will:

• empower workers
• strengthen the role of trade unions in the sector
• ensure staff have the recognition and reward for the important work they do
• boost productivity and improve living standards

The government is already taking other steps to support the workforce. This includes rolling out the first ever national career structure, including specialist care roles for people to aim for and progress into, through the Care Workforce Pathway. This is backed by funding for training through the Learning and Development Support Scheme in 2025 to 2026.

Earlier this year, Baroness Louise Casey of Blackstock was asked by the Prime Minister to lead an independent commission into adult social care. The commission will look at what fundamental reforms will be needed, what adult social care should look like, who it should serve and who should be responsible and accountable for its services. This consultation is intended to complement this work. The establishment of a fair pay agreement will be a critical step towards creating a national care service.

For fair pay agreements in adult social care to work, the following people must work together:

• government
• care providers
• trade unions
• trade associations
• local authorities
• the NHS
• those who work in social care
• those who draw on care and support

That is why, since autumn 2024, we have been working with people and organisations from across the sector to consider how a fair pay agreement process should operate. Details of our engagement are set out in annex A, published alongside this document.

We are grateful to all who have given their time and expertise to shape this policy and consultation to date.

You can find a glossary at the end of this document that explains some important terms.

Policy intention and proposal

Health mission and a national care service

Social care is a vital resource and helps people live the lives they want to.

It works in tandem with the NHS to support and maintain the wellbeing of people living in the UK. We will only build an NHS fit for the future if we address the issues in social care as well. Our health mission is based on the belief that people should have access to health and care when they need it. The fair pay agreement will support the provision of high-quality care with a more skilled, experienced and productive workforce.

We intend to build a national care service based on clear, consistent standards that will improve the quality of care. We will work with partners across the sector on the longer-term reforms needed to create this. Fair pay agreements are a significant step in that journey and provide a foundation from which a national care service can be built.

The adult social care sector is made up of around 19,000 organisations as of 2024 to 2025. Establishing the national ASC Negotiating Body and a process to negotiate fair pay agreements will give this fragmented sector a much-needed national infrastructure. It will provide the potential to standardise the excellent practice we are already seeing in some care providers, supported by increased take-up of other existing opportunities provided by the government. These include the first ever national career structure for adult social care - the Care Workforce Pathway - which is being rolled out across the sector, as well as the Learning and Development Support Scheme and the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training.

Employment Rights Bill

The government is creating a new deal for working people. Fair pay agreements are a part of the plan to Make Work Pay, which sets out a significant and ambitious plan to ensure workplace rights are fit for a modern economy, empowering working people and contributing to economic growth. It will raise the minimum floor of employment rights, raise living standards across the country and level the playing field for those businesses that are already engaged in good practices.

This is a core part of the government’s mission to grow the economy and raise living standards. Much of this plan applies to all employment sectors, including adult social care.

The Employment Rights Bill enables the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to set out the process for reaching a fair pay agreement in secondary legislation. In secondary legislation the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care may:

• establish an ASC Negotiating Body for England and set out how it operates
• make provision about the remit of the ASC Negotiating Body (for example, to specify additional matters relating to employment as a worker in the adult social care sector)
• specify how matters are to be considered by the ASC Negotiating Body in its negotiations
• set out the process for dispute resolution
• ratify the ASC Negotiating Body’s agreement so that it is given legal effect and applied to workers’ contracts

This detail is being set in secondary legislation to allow flexibility for the government to engage with and consult the sector and the public on how the fair pay agreement process could work. The policy and details of the fair pay agreement process will be finalised following this consultation before being set out in secondary legislation.

Costs and funding

Improving adult social care workforce pay, terms and conditions, and other matters such as training and development, is long overdue. Care staff are dedicated and skilled and yet have been underpaid and undervalued. Addressing these issues can help deal with recruitment and retention challenges in adult social care and increase the skills, experience and productivity of the workforce, which will ultimately support the delivery of high-quality care for those who need it.

The government recognises that achieving this comes with a cost. The Employment Rights Bill was accompanied by a series of impact assessments. In the primary legislation ‘Impact assessment: Establish a fair pay agreements process in the adult social care sector’, published in October 2024, we set out that a fair pay agreement is expected to lead to increased labour costs for care providers. These increased costs are likely to be passed on through higher fee rates to councils, to people who pay for their own care (known as ‘self-funders’) and to the NHS where it supports adult social care services (for example, through Funded Nursing Care, Continuing Healthcare and the Better Care Fund). An impact assessment to demonstrate the potential effects of the proposed options in this consultation will be published alongside this document soon.

Implementing a fair pay agreement, giving social care staff the fair pay and conditions that they have long been denied, and fostering a sustainable adult social care market should be a shared commitment across government, councils and providers. Efficiencies from better recruitment and retention could enable providers to cover some of the increased costs of labour. Additionally, the government encourages providers who have high levels of profit to consider how they can cover the increased costs themselves. 

As the majority of adult social care provision is funded by the state, through councils and the NHS, the government will financially contribute to the fair pay agreement. The 2025 Spending Review allows for an increase of over £4 billion of funding available for adult social care in the 2028 to 2029 financial year, compared to 2025 to 2026. As part of this, £500 million has been earmarked for improving pay, terms and conditions, and other matters such as - potentially - training and development for adult social care workers as part of the first ever fair pay agreement. This additional government funding will be paid to councils to reflect the increased cost of care. The government believes that funding for adult social care should be targeted towards those providers who are socially responsible, who do not pass on costs to councils if they can cover these themselves.

As part of building towards a national care service, the government plans to develop standards so that we can provide high-quality care and ensure that providers behave responsibly and demonstrate financial sustainability. This will include looking at how markets operate, levels of profitability and fairness for self-funders. 

Exactly what the fair pay agreement will cover will be determined by the ASC Negotiating Body, through a process discussed further below in this consultation. Over time, fair pay agreements will make sure that care workers are paid fairly, treated well and can build fulfilling careers in the sector. The funding available represents one of the biggest investments in the adult social care workforce, but this must be balanced with fiscal constraints and the government’s commitment to a cautious and phased approach to transform pay and conditions in the sector, particularly given the implications for self-funders and market sustainability. As the framework for fair pay agreements is tested and refined, we anticipate both the scope and effect on the adult social care workforce to grow over time. 

To balance the need for greater pay for the social care workforce with the potential cost to taxpayers, we propose that the ASC Negotiating Body will be given a cost ‘envelope’ at the start of negotiations. This will set out the maximum funding available to councils to cover increased costs resulting from the fair pay agreement. The ASC Negotiating Body will have to negotiate an outcome that is affordable within this envelope.

The government’s vision is that the fair pay agreement in 2028 to 2029 will be the first of many negotiated in future years.

We are interested in your views on how the ASC Negotiating Body can ensure that the effects on self-funders and the NHS are considered and that any outcome is affordable. 

Conditions for success

The successful implementation of a fair pay agreement and the rollout of reforms to adult social care planned by this government depend on all parties pulling in the same direction. This includes local government and other commissioners.

Local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the needs of their population. That is why, under the Care Act 2014, they are tasked with the duty to shape their care markets with a view to meeting the diverse needs of all local people. The full details of local authorities’ and councillors’ responsibilities under the Care Act are set out in factsheet 10 of the Care Act factsheets.

Local authority commissioners play a vital role in ensuring the social care workforce receives appropriate pay. They have a role in negotiating provider fee rates and contracts, which ultimately influence workforce pay.

Considering the role of local authorities and councillors in the implementation of a fair pay agreement is critical. To not do so would disproportionately place the burden on employers and could have negative implications for local care markets. The government will therefore support commissioners to enable the successful delivery of the fair pay agreement. This consultation asks for feedback on a number of ways that ensure local authority commissioners are included in the fair pay agreement process.

We also recognise that in preparation for the first fair pay agreement, providers and commissioners will need time, support and guidance. The timetable set out below allows for this.

We have considered whether fair pay agreements would represent a new burden for local government under the new burdens doctrine. Our assessment is that, at this stage, there is no new burden. However, we will continue to monitor this as policy develops. Further guidance is available at New burdens doctrine: guidance for government departments.

Implementation

Implementation of the first adult social care fair pay agreement requires several stages of preparation, as set out below.

1. By autumn 2025: undertake thorough sector engagement and achieve Royal Assent of the Employment Rights Bill.

2. By autumn 2026: complete public consultation and make secondary legislation.

3. By autumn 2027: establish negotiating process and set the parameters of the first fair pay agreement and conduct and conclude negotiations.

4. By April 2028: ratify the fair pay agreement through regulations. Fair pay agreement comes into effect and is applied to workers’ contracts.

About this consultation 

There have been many calls for pay and terms and conditions in adult social care to be negotiated by representatives of workers and employers. This consultation will gather views on the design of a fair pay agreement process in England, which is a manifesto priority for government.

England, Scotland and Wales will have separate negotiating bodies and therefore different fair pay agreements. The Scottish and Welsh governments will engage their respective sectors separately on establishing a negotiating body and process for fair pay agreements in Scotland and Wales. The UK government is grateful to both the Welsh and Scottish governments for their close collaboration on cross-border matters.

This consultation covers:

• who and what should be in scope of negotiations
• how the negotiation process could work, including:
  • who is involved
  • how disputes are resolved
  • how the agreement could be implemented and complied with

In some areas, we set out specific recommendations or options and for others we are seeking general views and insights on the issues.

The Employment Rights Bill allows the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to establish a negotiating body and a process for fair pay agreements. Views from this consultation will inform the ASC Negotiating Body and fair pay agreement process, that will then be finalised through what is called secondary legislation.

This consultation does not seek views on the outcome of any fair pay agreement. Any level of pay or new terms and conditions will be agreed through the bargaining process.

Anyone can respond to this consultation. We are particularly interested in the views of:

• people working in adult social care
• adult social care providers
• employers in adult social care
• people who draw on care and support, including those who pay for their own care
• people providing unpaid care
• trade unions
• local authorities
• commissioners
• councillors
• representative bodies
• the voluntary and community sector

While the powers in the bill apply to England, Scotland and Wales, this consultation is asking questions about England only. However, people and organisations based outside of England can also respond.

Overview

The sections below describe the components of the fair pay agreement process and set out some design options for each element in more detail. We are seeking views on important aspects of the design of the process so that we can be sure it enables constructive, meaningful and comprehensive negotiations between trade unions as worker representatives, and employer representatives, as well as protecting the vital frontline services that this sector provides.

We are also using the consultation to seek views on who should be covered by the first fair pay agreement and how the government can support implementation and compliance. For some of the stages, specific recommendations or options are set out, and for some we are seeking general views and insights on the issues at hand.

The sections are as follows:​​

• the ASC Negotiating Body
• the negotiation process
• coverage and remit
• dispute resolution​
• implementation
• compliance and enforcement

1. Adult Social Care Negotiating Body

This section considers the ASC Negotiating Body for England. It seeks views on how the ASC Negotiating Body could be set up to successfully create fair pay agreements and how the voice of workers and employers in the sector could be represented.

The ASC Negotiating Body will be established as a public body through secondary legislation, using powers provided by the Employment Rights Bill.

It will bring together trade unions and people representing employers to negotiate on pay, terms and conditions, and related matters. The coverage of the ASC Negotiating Body is discussed in more detail in section ‘3. Coverage and remit’.

Other organisations, such as commissioners of care, will also be involved in this process.

Form of the ASC Negotiating Body

Public bodies can take different forms depending on the functions they carry out. There are 2 types of public body that could potentially meet the needs of the ASC Negotiating Body. These are:

• an advisory non-departmental public body (NDPB)
• an expert committee

We propose to set up the ASC Negotiating Body as an NDPB.

We believe that it is important that the ASC Negotiating Body operates independently from government with strong formal governance and support structures, both of which are best achieved through an NDPB.

An NDPB operates at arms’ length from ministers, providing independent expert advice to government on specific issues.

These are the defining characteristics of an NDPB with advisory powers:

• relevant ministers (in this case the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care) are accountable for the NDPB but do not have direct involvement in its operations
• they operate independently from government as they are designed to be free from direct political control
• they are made up of independent experts, normally with a chair. Members are independent specialists, usually with staffing support from civil servants
• members are appointed by the relevant minister and are accountable to the sponsoring department, in this case DHSC
• they do not have executive powers. Their role is advisory

An expert committee, like an NDPB, provides independent specialist advice to government on specific issues. Expert committees share many of the characteristics of an NDPB, outlined above. However, unlike an NDPB, expert committees operate as part of a government department, although they and the advice they provide are still independent. Expert committees are subject to lower levels of review and scrutiny. If we establish the ASC Negotiating Body as an expert committee, we propose this would be part of DHSC.

Creating the ASC Negotiating Body as an NDPB would bring greater alignment with the form of the Department for Education’s School Support Staff Negotiating Body, as both negotiating bodies will be carrying out similar functions.

Supporting the ASC Negotiating Body

We are seeking your views on the support and infrastructure that the ASC Negotiating Body might need to create the conditions for a successful negotiation process.

Chair

The ASC Negotiating Body will need a chair to oversee the process, bring members together, lead meetings and ensure all voices are heard. The chair will ultimately lead the ASC Negotiating Body to put a fair pay agreement to the Secretary of State. The chair will receive a fee from DHSC.

The chair will support the ASC Negotiating Body through any points of contention but will not be expected to resolve formal disputes. If the ASC Negotiating Body fails to reach agreement, we propose a separate process for resolving this. This is outlined under section ‘4. Dispute resolution’.

There are many characteristics the chair will need to be able to lead the ASC Negotiating Body effectively. These could include, but are not limited to:

• a neutral party and can gain the confidence of members
• a breadth of knowledge of the adult social care sector
• experience managing, leading and navigating industrial negotiations, with an ability to assess conflicting opinions across a wide range of viewpoints to help form any proposed agreement
• exceptional communication skills, able to quickly earn the trust and confidence of trade unions, employer representatives and any other parties to help resolve conflict in a constructive manner
• experience as a senior leader with the ability to set clear direction and make strategic decisions

Secretariat

To help negotiations go smoothly, the ASC Negotiating Body will need a secretariat function. As with the chair of the ASC Negotiating Body, the secretariat will also have a role in managing relationships and will require the confidence of members.

Staff appointed to the secretariat would support the chair by providing activities including, but not limited to:

• minute taking
• organising meetings
• managing relationships with involved parties
• drafting reports

In addition, we propose that the secretariat also has the capability to commission or carry out additional research and analysis, if required by the ASC Negotiating Body. This would help ensure that negotiations are based on comprehensive evidence and would support the ASC Negotiating Body to reach an agreement, by all members having a shared understanding of the evidence base. This will also be important to help the ASC Negotiating Body understand what is affordable and realistic to implement.

There are 2 options for how this secretariat function could be delivered:

• option 1: staffed by civil servants seconded into the ASC Negotiating Body (if it is established as a non-departmental public body, as proposed). If the ASC Negotiating Body is an expert committee, it will be staffed by civil servants within DHSC
• option 2: contracted out to an external delivery partner. This would involve a regular procurement exercise, where organisations could bid for the secretariat contract. The successful organisation would be accountable to DHSC through a contract management relationship. If we establish an NDPB, there will still need to be a small number of civil servants involved to oversee this operation

Option 1 uses the existing skills and capabilities of policy teams and analysts in the department. Civil servants would be acting independently from the department and on behalf of the ASC Negotiating Body. All civil servants are required to act with integrity, honesty, impartiality and objectivity. It is the government’s preference to use ‘in house’ resources where we already hold the relevant expertise.

Regarding option 2, procuring an external delivery partner to carry out the secretariat function could be beneficial in bringing external expertise. Although civil servants would have to oversee this operation, this option would still operate independently from government and therefore help ensure independence of processes.

Representation

Figures from Skills for Care show there are 1.5 million people working in adult social care in England in the year 2024 to 2025, equivalent to 5% of all adults in employment, making it comparable to the NHS and larger than the construction, transport or food and drink industries.

The employer landscape is also vast. The total number of organisations involved in providing or organising adult social care in England was estimated at 19,000 in the year 2024 to 2025. The sector is also complex and fragmented, with many different settings, service types and specialisms, and covers the private, public and charity sectors.

To enable successful negotiations, we need to ensure that workers and employers are fairly represented on the ASC Negotiating Body. The Employment Rights Bill states that membership must include:

• officials of one or more trade unions that represent the interests of social care workers
• people representing the interests of employers of social care workers

In addition, the bill allows for persons of other descriptions to be appointed.

We propose that the ASC Negotiating Body has an equal number of seats for worker and employer representatives, to ensure the voice of both groups can be heard equally. If others are appointed, we propose they are appointed as observers or advisers only. This ensures that negotiations remain between workers’ and employers’ representatives.

Members of the ASC Negotiating Body will be reimbursed for expenses associated with attending meetings if needed but will not be paid fees for their participation, because they will be acting on behalf of their organisation.

We propose that each bargaining side will be responsible for determining how seats should be shared among themselves. Each side will set criteria for determining how seats are shared. They will then submit membership proposals in line with these criteria to the Secretary of State for review and approval. More detail on how this would work is set out below.

Worker representation

It is important that the worker representation on the ASC Negotiating Body can encompass a range of different unions and the workers that they represent, so that the breadth and diversity of workers in the sector can be represented.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC), working with partner unions, has developed the following proposal for how workers could be represented in negotiations.

UNISON, GMB, Unite and the Royal College of Nursing, working with TUC as the convener, will establish an ‘adult social care fair pay agreement trade union group’, who they propose will sit together on the ASC Negotiating Body to represent workers, subject to final verification from the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

These trade unions all have membership, recognition agreements and collective bargaining coverage across the sector and have been active in it for many years.

DHSC will decide the overall number of seats on the ASC Negotiating Body. With this information, the ASC fair pay agreement trade union group will set the criteria to submit proposals to the Secretary of State on how seats and votes on the ASC Negotiating Body, allocated for worker representatives, are distributed between the trade unions.

The criteria have not yet been established but could include holding significant membership across the ASC sector and having meaningful experience of collective bargaining.

Membership of the ASC Negotiating Body will be reviewed regularly, to account for changes in the trade union landscape.

The ASC fair pay agreement trade union group will assess applicants against their criteria and propose a share of seats for each trade union to DHSC. The Secretary of State will review proposals and confirm in writing to the proposed ASC fair pay agreement trade union group the final agreement on ASC Negotiating Body membership.

We will set out in regulations that a trade union must be an independent trade union. A ‘Certificate of Independence’ from the certification officer provides legal proof that a union is independent.

As is usual in similar processes, such as pay-setting processes, trade unions will be responsible for how they consult members on any draft fair pay agreement proposals.

Although not all adult social care workers are members of a trade union, once the negotiated fair pay agreement is implemented, it will apply to all workers who are covered by the agreement, whether they are a member of a trade union or not.

Other parts of the Employment Rights Bill include measures that will improve trade unions’ access to workplaces, in turn providing scope to increase trade union membership, ultimately providing greater representation and strengthening collective bargaining. More detail on these measures is set out in the ‘Trade unions’ factsheet on the page Employment Rights Bill: factsheets.

Employer representation

Through continued engagement with our fair pay agreement working group, we have explored different models of employer representation and developed the following proposal. While this work has been shaped by the sector, this proposal does not reflect the views of every organisation on the working group.

Similar to the proposed trade union group, we propose that there will be an organisation that will convene employers and co-ordinate participation. We propose that the Care Provider Alliance (CPA) takes this role.

Seat-share among employers will be co-ordinated by CPA, supported by analysis of the breakdown of the market by DHSC, to ensure that a range of types, sizes and specialisms of providers can be represented.

If care staff employed by local authorities and the NHS are covered by the fair pay agreement, employer representation must include the Local Government Association and NHS Employers, as representatives of those parts of the workforce. Section ‘3. Coverage and remit’ discusses this in more detail. The remaining share of seats would be co-ordinated by CPA as outlined below.

CPA will be responsible for selecting ASC Negotiating Body members. They will assess potential members against criteria including sector experience, representative legitimacy, expertise and having a collaborative approach. CPA are being proposed due to their coverage, in bringing together the 10 main national associations representing independent and voluntary adult social care providers in England, but will also need to work with those parts of the sector that it does not represent.

Recommended membership will be submitted to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care by CPA. The Secretary of State will review and appoint members, in line with the proposed approach for worker representation.

Membership will be reviewed regularly to account for changes in the employer landscape, to ensure it appropriately reflects the variety of size and specialisms in the sector.

The role of local government

Local government will play a vital role in implementing the fair pay agreement, given their responsibilities for the delivery of adult social care services under the Care Act 2014, and their role in negotiating provider fee rates and contracts, which ultimately influence workforce pay. It is therefore important that local government, particularly in their capacity as commissioners, have a clear role in the fair pay agreement process.

We propose a package of measures to ensure local government has a strong role in the negotiation process. This includes the following:

• negotiations will likely be triggered by a ‘remit letter’. Section ‘2. Negotiation process’ covers this in more detail. We propose that this letter will specify that the ASC Negotiating Body must consult with local government and consider their views in reaching an agreement
• the terms of reference for the ASC Negotiating Body and the roles and responsibilities of the chair should specify that the interests of local government must be considered. In addition, we propose specifying in regulations that the ASC Negotiating Body must have regard to the views of local government representatives throughout negotiations
• local government representatives will be able to provide the Secretary of State with a written assessment of the proposed fair pay agreement, once negotiations have concluded. The Secretary of State must give due regard to this when deciding whether to ratify the agreement. This means that the Secretary of State should consider the duties of local government and the effect that any decisions will have on their operations. Ratification is covered in more detail under section ‘5. Implementation’

Other members

As set out above, the Employment Rights Bill allows us to appoint other members to the ASC Negotiating Body. We want to ensure that the ASC Negotiating Body is as representative of the adult social care sector as possible and that all interests are considered, so that the ASC Negotiating Body has the greatest chance of reaching a meaningful agreement. If others are appointed, we propose they are appointed as observers or advisers only. This ensures that negotiations remain between workers’ and employers’ representatives.

We therefore want to understand whether you think there should be any other members of the ASC Negotiating Body as expert advisers, observers or in another distinct capacity.

Appointments process

As set out above, our proposals for worker and employer representation propose that:

• bargaining sides will be responsible for determining how seats should be shared among themselves
• each side will submit membership proposals to the Secretary of State for review and approval

It may be the case that worker or employer representatives write directly to DHSC to express interest in being a member of the ASC Negotiating Body. If this happens, DHSC will co-ordinate engagement with either the proposed ASC fair pay agreement trade union group or CPA to ensure all applications are considered.

When submitting membership proposals to the Secretary of State, both the trade union group and CPA should also submit details of any organisations whose applications have been rejected, along with the rationale.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has the power to put conditions on appointments to help ensure representation is legitimate and covers as much of the sector as possible. We believe that it is important that the sector determines who is best placed to negotiate on behalf of its workers and employers, but this power is an important safeguard.

The Secretary of State may also terminate appointments.

There may be situations where an appointed member of the ASC Negotiating Body steps down or becomes unable to participate during negotiations. The relevant bargaining side would be able to write to the Secretary of State to seek to replace the member concerned, and DHSC would endeavour to make a new appointment as soon as reasonably possible. However, any decisions taken by the ASC Negotiating Body are not affected by a vacancy. This would mean that, if a member steps down during a critical period of active negotiations, the ASC Negotiating Body is able to continue to put an agreement to the Secretary of State, and negotiations are not stalled by the appointment process. This would reduce delays.

2. Negotiation process

This section considers how the negotiation process could work. It proposes an approach and seeks feedback on whether this will help negotiations be successful.

Overview

Negotiations will work on a cyclical basis, mostly following the same set of steps each time. Each cycle could concentrate on all possible things within the ASC Negotiating Body’s remit and all possible workers in scope, or a specific set each time. For example, one cycle might look at just care workers and baseline pay or annual leave. The remit of the ASC Negotiating Body is discussed in detail under section ‘3. Coverage and remit’.

The main stages in negotiations will be:

1. The cycle begins, triggered by the remit letter sent from the Secretary of State to the ASC Negotiating Body.
2. The ASC Negotiating Body convenes and begins negotiations. This could include several stages such as:
   • sector engagement
   • understanding the existing evidence and gathering new evidence
   • holding negotiations to achieve a proposed agreement
3. Worker and employer sides of the ASC Negotiating Body consult their members on the proposed agreement. Each side then confirms whether they agree or wish to negotiate further, depending on their members’ feedback.
4. The ASC Negotiating Body reaches a proposed fair pay agreement, or it fails to reach an agreement and is in dispute. See section ‘4. Dispute resolution’ for further detail.
5. The chair of the ASC Negotiating Body puts the negotiated agreement to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care for ratification. Under our proposals in section ‘1. Adult Social Care Negotiating Body’, this would be accompanied by evidence of how local government were consulted, and local government’s assessment of the outcome. The Secretary of State considers the agreement for approval. If approved, the Secretary of State may make regulations to ratify the agreement. If not, the Secretary of State can refer it back to the ASC Negotiating Body for reconsideration.
6. The new pay and terms and conditions come into force for all workers in scope of the ratified agreement.

These stages are summarised in figure 1 below.

Figure 1: stages of the negotiation process

Figure 1 presents the 6 stages of negotiations described above as a circular process, with an off-shoot for dispute resolution and/or renegotiation between stages 3 and 4.

The following sections of this consultation will describe each potential stage in more detail. For some of the stages, specific recommendations or options are set out, and for some we are seeking general views.

How negotiations would start

To support smooth negotiations and provide clarity from the outset, the government’s proposal is that the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care issues a formal remit letter to the ASC Negotiating Body to commence each cycle of negotiations.

This remit letter will provide an opportunity for government to set the financial envelope and any potential priorities or specific considerations for an agreement.

We propose that the letter to the ASC Negotiating Body sets out:

• any priority areas that the government would like to be considered, which could include specific roles or pay and terms and conditions. The intention is to provide the ASC Negotiating Body with broad flexibility - there may be exceptional circumstances where the remit letter sets boundaries on certain areas of coverage and remit
• any other factors that the ASC Negotiating Body should consider or conditions the agreement must meet. This includes specifying the maximum amount of funding available for that round of negotiations, which the ASC Negotiating Body will need to work within
• the timelines by which the ASC Negotiating Body should aim to reach an agreement and submit this to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

How negotiations would work

Once the ASC Negotiating Body has received the Secretary of State’s letter, it will be able to commence negotiations, led by the chair and supported by the secretariat.

Before the negotiations begin, the ASC Negotiating Body, supported by the secretariat, may wish to conduct a period of engagement and evidence-gathering to understand the sector and existing landscape.

The ASC Negotiating Body will have the freedom to approach negotiations as they see fit, within the parameters set by the remit letter. The ASC Negotiating Body will together decide how to approach:

• discussing which roles and elements of pay and terms and conditions are to be in scope for this cycle (see section ‘3. Coverage and remit’ for more detail)
• incorporating the priorities set out in the Secretary of State’s letter
• agreeing which items are affordable

Led by the independent chair, the ASC Negotiating Body will work through all the issues at hand to reach a draft agreement. Once a draft agreement is on the table, each bargaining side will be responsible for consulting its own members and relevant organisations to determine whether the agreement should be accepted and put to the Secretary of State for approval.

If the ASC Negotiating Body is unable to reach an agreement, it is important to have a clear dispute resolution process to work through issues and support the group to reach an agreement. Our proposed approach to this is detailed in section ‘4. Dispute resolution’.

It is possible that the ASC Negotiating Body could fail to reach agreement even after exhausting the dispute resolution process. If this happens it is important to have a mechanism to improve pay and terms and conditions for workers. Section ‘5. Implementation’ sets out what would happen in this circumstance.

The chair will lead the ASC Negotiating Body to develop its own terms of reference, setting out how it works. This could include a code of conduct, setting out expectations for how negotiations are conducted and how to continue work in cases where some matters are harder to agree on than others. This would be a helpful tool to establish good working relationships between members and a culture for successful negotiations.

One role of the chair will be to ensure that the ASC Negotiating Body follows its agreed terms of reference. DHSC may also work with the chair, if required, to hold members accountable.

How the ASC Negotiating Body would reach a decision

The Employment Rights Bill gives the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care the ability to define how the ASC Negotiating Body reaches an agreement.

We propose that for an agreement to be considered agreed and ready for submission to government, it simply needs both sides to agree to it and inform the chair. We believe that self-determination is important and therefore we propose that the government does not define in detail how each bargaining side reaches an agreement.

This section of the consultation has been developed in collaboration with partners on our fair pay agreement working group. Both trade unions and employer representatives have proposed that they should be responsible for arranging their own decision-making mechanisms. Both groups have indicated that they would aim for consensus but may take a vote if this is not possible.

Timelines

Frequency of negotiations

To provide clarity to the sector and to balance the need to remain responsive to economic developments while giving stability for employers, the government proposes that fair pay agreements are negotiated on an annual basis as standard practice.

Each cycle of negotiations may concentrate on different issues, for example it may choose to negotiate pay and terms and conditions for specific adult social care roles, or different terms and conditions such as training, holiday pay and so on, depending on what is in the remit each cycle.

The Secretary of State could also choose to fund an agreement that covers several years, by setting this out in the remit letter.

Timeline for negotiations

Within the proposed annual cycle, we need to consider how much time to allow for negotiations, how to align timelines with local government and employer budget setting, and to allow enough time for implementation. Implementation includes:

• time for the Secretary of State to consider the proposed fair pay agreement and make regulations to ratify it
• following ratification, time for the sector to prepare for the fair pay agreement coming into effect in workers’ contracts. Implementation is explained further under section ‘5. Implementation’

We propose that to ensure we strike this balance we should allow around 6 months for negotiations, leaving 6 months for implementation.

We do not propose that if an agreement is not reached by this point, then negotiations will come to an end with no resolution available. Instead, we are proposing that this is the time we plan for and that the ASC Negotiating Body and the department will keep in constant contact to review the progress made and adjust plans as needed.

3. Coverage and remit

While members of the ASC Negotiating Body will negotiate what is in the fair pay agreement, ahead of negotiations we need to define what and who can be considered in the first place. This section seeks views on different areas of pay, terms and conditions, and wider employment policies. It also seeks views on who the ASC Negotiating Body should cover, including the type of job roles, services and settings.

Background

The adult social care workforce in England is large and diverse. It provides several essential services such as residential care, day care, domiciliary, community and health services. Within these, there is a variety of job roles such as:

• direct care roles, including care workers and personal assistants
• managerial roles
• regulated roles like social workers, nurses and occupational therapists
• ancillary roles and others

The Employment Rights Bill uses ‘remit’ to consider both the workers who are in scope, and the matters that the ASC Negotiating Body will consider. For this consultation, we’re using 2 important terms.

‘Coverage’ refers to which roles in the workforce should be included in the scope of the ASC Negotiating Body. We are seeking views on whether this should include all ASC workers or be limited to specific roles or professions, and whether any roles should be excluded from the ASC Negotiating Body’s coverage.

‘Remit’ refers to the matters the ASC Negotiating Body should negotiate. We are seeking views on whether this should, in addition to pay and terms and conditions, also include wider employment policies such as training and development, policies relating to health and safety, and more.

Defining the coverage of the ASC Negotiating Body

The Employment Rights Bill provides an intentionally broad definition of an adult social care worker - defining it as anyone “who is employed wholly or mainly in, or in connection with, the provision of social care to individuals aged 18 or over in England”. In this definition, social care refers to:

…any form of personal care or other practical assistance provided for individuals who, by reason of age, illness, disability, pregnancy, childbirth, dependence on alcohol or drugs, or any other similar circumstances, are in need of such care or other assistance.

This definition intends to capture anyone who spends the majority of their working time providing adult social care in England, therefore it does not capture anyone who spends the majority of their working time providing children’s social care, for example. It also only captures workers who are under a contract.

The Secretary of State can make regulations to refine this definition to a more specific subset of social care workers in the ASC Negotiating Body’s coverage.

Being within the coverage does not mean that all elements of each fair pay agreement will apply. Ultimately the details of fair pay agreements will be subject to negotiations, the decision of the ASC Negotiating Body, the remit letter and other factors.

Checking whether a worker falls within coverage of the ASC Negotiating Body

It is the responsibility of the employer to check whether the majority of their worker’s (or agency worker’s) time is spent on activities related to adult social care. We think in most cases it will be straightforward to check. However, we understand that employers of workers in adult social care may sometimes find it difficult to check whether their worker fits within the definition of an adult social care worker, particularly if they work across different care settings or sectors such as education, health or children’s social care. We will therefore share guidance in due course to help employers understand if their workers are covered by the ASC Negotiating Body.

Role categorisation

The sector uses a range of frameworks to categorise the workforce. These include:

• the Care Workforce Pathway’s definitions of roles categories
• the Skills for Care ASC Workforce Data Set, which records roles based on employers, services and settings
• the Office of National Statistics methodology and framework for classifying the ASC workforce

Building on these frameworks, we are setting out the following categorisation to articulate the roles that may be covered by the ASC Negotiating Body. This categorisation will also be used to inform the specific scope of negotiations, where the ASC Negotiating Body may choose to concentrate on specified roles instead of the workforce at large.

The ASC workforce delivers several essential services where workers may be covered by the ASC Negotiating Body, such as:

• residential care
• day care
• domiciliary
• community
• health services

Within these, there are several job roles, such as:

• direct care roles, including:
  • care workers
  • senior care workers
  • personal assistants
  • agency workers
  • other direct care
• managerial roles, including:
  • supervisors
  • middle managers
  • senior managers
  • agency workers
• regulated professions, including:
  • nurses
  • occupational therapists
  • social workers
  • agency workers
  • other regulated professions
• other roles, including:
  • ancillary roles
  • administrative roles
  • agency workers

Excluded sections of the workforce

Care delivered by the self-employed or under informal arrangements

Fair pay agreements apply to the paid adult social care workforce, therefore do not cover unpaid carers. There are also parts of the paid workforce that are not within the ASC Negotiating Body’s coverage. Specifically, those who are self-employed or working under informal care arrangements. This is because they are not covered by the definition of ‘social care worker’ set out in the Employment Rights Bill.

Many require self-employment for the flexibility it allows, including in setting their own pay and terms and conditions. Those individuals do not work to terms and conditions set by an employer. It therefore would not be appropriate for negotiations on pay, terms and conditions, and other employment matters to include these groups.

We understand that many will be concerned about the effect this might have on individuals who are self-employed or working under informal arrangements. We want to understand any potential effects on these groups being out of the ASC Negotiating Body’s coverage. Issues relating to self-employment will be considered in the upcoming consultation on employment status, including how to enhance protections for self-employed workers.

Areas of the workforce to note

Care sector workers employed by local authorities and the NHS

The legislation allows for all adult social care workers - other than the self-employed - to be covered by the ASC Negotiating Body. This includes those employed predominantly in the provision of social care by the NHS or local authorities, such as nurses, occupational therapists, social workers and healthcare assistants.

The government’s intention is to give this fragmented sector a much-needed national infrastructure, providing the opportunity to standardise existing best practice and formalise routes for the workforce to access better pay, terms and conditions, and career and development opportunities.

However, it may not be appropriate for the ASC Negotiating Body to cover some areas of the workforce because of unique factors. Here, we are seeking views on whether ASC workers employed directly by local authorities or the NHS should be covered by the ASC Negotiating Body.

These workers are usually already covered by other national bargaining frameworks or pay setting processes, typically:

• the National Joint Council (NJC) for Local Government Services, where terms and conditions are set out in the ‘Green Book’
• the Agenda for Change (AfC) contract, where the AfC Staff Council typically negotiate on non-pay issues
• the NHS Pay Review Body, which provides headline recommendations for pay uplifts for NHS staff when remitted by government

Workers can be covered by both the ASC Negotiating Body and another bargaining process or pay setting process (such as individual workplace negotiations). In such a scenario, a worker would retain their contract as agreed by their original collective bargaining process. When a fair pay agreement is agreed, the Employment Rights Bill sets out that the relevant worker will benefit from the most generous pay or terms and conditions (either in their current contract or what is set out by the ASC Negotiating Body). This would not affect the contracts of those workers within AfC or the NJC who are not covered by the ASC Negotiating Body.

However, workers being in multiple processes that determine pay and terms and conditions could add complexity to their existing processes, including the NJC and AfC. This might have an impact on the NHS or local government in relation to cost, industrial relations and recruitment, and it might increase the risk of a perceived ‘2-tier system’ within the NHS and local government (that is, between those not covered by the ASC Negotiating Body and those who are).

As the ASC Negotiating Body will have a fixed funding envelope, it may be preferable to concentrate resource and efforts, at least in the medium term, on improvements for those not covered by an alternative process. This is also a decision the ASC Negotiating Body can take.

Alternatively, including all those who predominantly work in adult social care regardless of whether they are covered by another process could support the unification of the workforce and the standardisation of training, standards and delivery of care across the country. In cases where the ASC Negotiating Body agrees preferable terms on a specific matter compared with AfC and NJC, this could allow workers to benefit from multiple processes and could strengthen recruitment and retention in adult social care.

This is a complex issue and so, alongside this consultation, the government is exploring how this could work in practice with consideration to the effects, risks, and challenges that might arise. We are particularly interested in hearing from employers and workers associated with these processes, or those who have had experience delivering them.

Agency workers

Under the Employment Rights Bill, temporary staff, including agency workers and bank staff, are covered by the ASC Negotiating Body. Many providers use temporary staff to provide flexibility in meeting variable demands for care, including sometimes high reliance on indirectly employed registered nurses, support and outreach workers, care workers and social workers.

As the use of temporary staff is frequent in ASC, the government’s view is that it is appropriate for both agency and bank staff to be within coverage of the ASC Negotiating Body.

Cross-border workers

The Employment Rights Bill allows for the creation of individual negotiating bodies in each of England, Scotland and Wales by their respective governments, recognising that social care is funded and delivered separately in each.

This will allow for separate fair pay agreements to be negotiated and agreed in each nation and ratified by their respective ministers and Parliaments. The Scottish and Welsh governments will set out information on their own fair pay agreement processes in the future.

In England, Scotland and Wales there are some care workers who operate across borders, for example providing care to people in both England and Wales. These workers could therefore be covered by more than one fair pay agreement. We intend to clarify this in secondary legislation.

The Employment Rights Bill sets out that a worker would be covered by any nation’s fair pay agreement for the number of hours they work in that nation. For example, if a social care worker provides care in England and Wales under a single employment contract for 38 hours a week in total, 20 hours in England and 18 hours in Wales, they would receive pay and terms and conditions as set out in any fair pay agreement in England for 20 hours and as set out in any fair pay agreement in Wales for 18 hours.

Therefore, employers and workers will need to consider whether they are covered by the fair pay agreement process in Scotland or Wales, once established, as well as the fair pay agreement process in England. They will need to make sure that workers are paid and provided with the relevant terms and conditions as appropriate. This may result in potential unintended consequences for cross-border care workers and providers at the point a fair pay agreement is ratified and implemented in England and Scotland or Wales. This could include challenges such as:

• staff choosing to work in a different nation for better pay or terms and conditions
• more complicated operations for providers operating across borders

In England, Scotland and Wales the respective governments can specify in secondary legislation which workers will be covered by their negotiating bodies. Making changes to the bodies’ coverage could provide clarity to employers and workers by ensuring that a social care worker is only covered by a fair pay agreement in just one nation according to criteria such as the place where they spend the majority of their time working.

Informing the remit of the ASC Negotiating Body

The Employment Rights Bill sets a remit for the ASC Negotiating Body to negotiate matters that relate to:

• the remuneration (pay) of adult social care workers
• the terms and conditions of employment of adult social care workers
• any other matter related to employment of an adult social care worker, which must be specified in regulations

This section of the consultation seeks views on different elements of pay and terms and conditions, as well as other employment policies (such as training and development, policies on people and culture, and additional benefits and financial incentives, for instance) that could be part of the ASC Negotiating Body’s remit.

Answers to the questions below will be important information for the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, considering their role in providing information to the ASC Negotiating Body at the start of negotiations. Section ‘5. Implementation’ considers how these areas will be implemented and reflected in workers’ contracts or working arrangements.

Pay and terms and conditions

Pay is generally remuneration received for work performed as an employee or worker in the form of salary or wages. Terms and conditions are a worker’s contracted terms, usually set out in writing. There is some overlap here, particularly with elements like holiday, sick pay and pensions. For the purposes of the consultation and the fair pay agreement, we view these as terms and conditions. We are not intending to limit the areas within pay and terms and conditions that the ASC Negotiating Body can negotiate on within regulations.

We are seeking views on which elements of pay should be prioritised by the ASC Negotiating Body, such as a sectoral minimum wage, pay scales or one-off payments, for instance. We are also interested in which terms and conditions should be considered a priority. This will inform the remit letter issued by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care setting out any priority areas that the government would like to be considered in each round of negotiations. The answers can be considered against other information sources such as the national Adult social care (ASC) workforce and work-related quality of life survey, on top of any additional evidence gathering led by the ASC Negotiating Body to inform negotiations.

The Employment Rights Bill ensures that anything agreed by the ASC Negotiating Body, and then made effective by the Secretary of State, will not have the effect of lowering worker’s pay, or reducing any of their terms and conditions.

Wider employment matters

The Employment Rights Bill allows the ASC Negotiating Body to negotiate any other matter relating to an individual being employed as an adult social care worker. We are calling these ‘wider employment matters’ in this consultation. Wider employment matters can be thought of as the policies that relate to the direct relationship between employer and worker, rather than organisational or strategic policy issues. Typically, these wider employment matters would be policies that sit outside of a worker’s contract, such as around access to training, special leave, expenses or enhanced pay during statutory leave.

We recognise that this may encompass a wide range of issues. Unlike pay and terms and conditions, we must ensure that we include these matters in the regulations (making them part of the remit) for them to be able to be considered by the ASC Negotiating Body.

By including these wider employment matters within the ASC Negotiating Body’s remit, a fair pay agreement has greater potential to solve issues to improve individual worker experience and wellbeing. It will also encourage better recruitment, retention and productivity, and standardise some of the excellent workforce initiatives, like the Care Workforce Pathway, that we see in the sector.

In this section, we ask questions on the following areas that the ASC Negotiating Body could negotiate on, to understand relative priorities for the sector:

• training, development and career progression
• people and culture
• additional benefits and financial incentives

We also welcome any views on whether there are areas outside of these that the ASC Negotiating Body should also have in its remit.

Training, development and career progression

As the government has set out, improving training opportunities, development and career progression for the adult social care workforce is a priority.

By also addressing training, development and career progression we can work to improve retention for the workforce. According to Skills for Care’s 2024 report, in 2023 to 2024, the average turnover rate was 7.4 percentage points lower among care workers who had received some form of training (28.0%), compared to those who had not (35.4%). Improved retention also has productivity benefits - employers can benefit from investing less time and money to recruit new staff to address vacancies.

If training, development and career progression were to be included within the ASC Negotiating Body’s remit, it would be able negotiate on a variety of relevant policies. These could include - but are not limited to - guidance or support for:

• training entitlements for the workforce, which could include annual training days, access to a training budget and the right to request training, among others
• specialised training requirements, such as:
  • dementia training
  • artificial intelligence training
  • delegated healthcare tasks training
• career progression policies, such as through the implementation or adherence to the Care Workforce Pathway
• providing development opportunities and qualifications for the workforce

People and culture

The adult social care workforce is one of the most ethnically diverse in England and is predominantly comprised of women. There are inequalities and challenges that affect recruitment and retention of the workforce, including:

• according to Skills for Care’s 2024 report, despite 79% of the workforce being made up of women, male workers were more likely to be in senior management roles. Minority ethnic staff are also less represented in senior management, compared to the national average
• economic challenges faced by adult social care workers may also be exacerbated for women working in the sector, who are statistically more likely to face economic hardship and poverty (see Skills for Care’s 2024 report), and, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, are more likely to have flexible working needs due to caregiving responsibilities
• findings by the Social Care Workforce Race Equality Standard, highlight that social care staff from a Black, Asian and minority ethnic background face worse outcomes compared to White colleagues. This includes disproportionately high levels of workplace bullying, including incidents of racism, and violence in the workplace. It also demonstrates that internationally recruited workers often face discrimination, racism and feelings of exclusion, compared to UK-born workers

The adult social care workforce also faces wider, persistent challenges related to morale and wellbeing. According to the adult social care workforce survey April 2025 report, 44.2% of adult social care settings reported low staff morale. Domiciliary care settings were more likely to report a challenging morale situation.

Policies relating to people and culture that could support in addressing these challenges could include, but are not limited to, guidance or support for:

• equality, diversity and inclusion policies
• wellbeing policies
• dignity at work policies (including bullying, harassment and discrimination policies)
• family-friendly policies or balance between work and personal life (including flexible working policies)
• health and safety in the workplace policies (including preventing violence in the workplace policies)
• whistleblowing and speak up schemes

Additional benefits and financial support

It might also be appropriate for the ASC Negotiating Body to explore policies that provide for additional benefits and financial support. We know that financial security is a significant barrier to remaining in the sector for many adult social care workers. Wider benefits, including financial support, might include, but are not limited to, policies that set out guidance or support for:

• travel to work schemes (for example, travel season ticket loans, discount for transport, free parking schemes)
• tailored financial support (for example, financial coaching, student loan assistance)
• travel and expenses (for example, subsistence allowance, reimbursement of travel costs)
• other incentives (for example, staff counselling, wellbeing schemes)

4. Dispute resolution

This section considers what happens if the ASC Negotiating Body fails to reach an agreement and seeks views on how disputes should be resolved, to support the ASC Negotiating Body to successfully reach an agreement.

Background

The government’s aim is to support the ASC Negotiating Body to establish a positive culture and way of working that allows for an agreement that is endorsed by all parties. However, during the negotiations, competing interests and priorities between representatives on the ASC Negotiating Body may lead to situations where negotiations are unable to continue. This is known as a dispute. The Employment Rights Bill gives the government the ability to establish a dispute resolution process for the fair pay agreement negotiations.

Other collective bargaining processes typically have a dispute resolution process in case it is needed - but these are not always used. Having a clear process to help the ASC Negotiating Body work through conflicts minimises the need for the Secretary of State to intervene. More detail about when the Secretary of State may need to intervene if the ASC Negotiating Body fails to reach agreement is outlined in section ‘5. Implementation’.

We have developed a proposal through collaboration with the fair pay agreement working group and task and finish groups with unions, providers, local government and others. We are seeking views on this here. This includes:

• what should be classed as a dispute
• how the dispute resolution process should be triggered
• who should be involved in this process

What a ‘dispute’ is

A dispute is when the ASC Negotiating Body cannot reach a consensus on a package of measures and the negotiation has reached a stalemate and it cannot continue.

A dispute will be between opposite sides of the ASC Negotiating Body only. Any points of contention within the worker representative group or within the employer representative group should be resolved without involvement from the wider ASC Negotiating Body.

Disputes are distinct from points of contention, which are a normal part of a negotiation process.

Triggering a dispute

We propose that the chair should aim to resolve points of contention first, as part of the normal course of their duties. We believe that the chair is also best placed to identify where negotiations cannot continue and that the chair should declare a dispute once they feel that they cannot do any more to find a solution.

It will be important for members of the ASC Negotiating Body to agree that negotiations require the dispute resolution process, to ensure participation. We propose that the chair should judge whether there is consensus, and if this is in doubt, they could call for a vote to trigger the process. We suggest that, if this vote is called, it must have a majority (50% plus one member) of both employer and worker sides of the ASC Negotiating Body to ensure the majority agree to start the dispute resolution process.

Resolving a dispute

Once a dispute has been triggered, we propose that an independent third party becomes involved to work with the ASC Negotiating Body to help them reach an agreement. This would ensure the process is independent from government and allows the ASC Negotiating Body to engage appropriate experts with relevant experience. Using an independent third party is best practice for dispute resolution as seen in other collective bargaining processes.

The government’s proposal, discussed with the fair pay agreement working group, is that the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) should be the designated body to resolve any disputes arising from the ASC Negotiating Body. Acas’s role would be set out in secondary legislation and this would enable Acas to lead with confidence and provide clarity over the dispute resolution process.

Acas is capable of assisting in the way most appropriate to the particular dispute in question. They have a number of methods available, including:

• conciliation: conciliation would likely be the first step of the dispute resolution process, aiming to find a solution that everyone finds acceptable. This would be carried out by Acas’s own collective conciliators. The conciliator would be an impartial and independent third party expert who works with the parties in dispute to support them in finding common ground for building a resolution. The work would be done through a series of meetings and involve a blend of group conversations or one-to-one conversations between the conciliator and the parties
• mediation: collective mediation arises after the collective conciliator has worked with the parties and, together, they have identified this is the best approach. The mediating third party would fall short of making a decision, instead working with the parties to develop clear recommendations for them to resolve their dispute. This would use an independent and impartial expert from the Acas register of arbitrators ​

We propose that the chair, the ASC Negotiating Body and Acas work together to decide which methods are appropriate based on the nature of the dispute. By not defining the methods of dispute resolution in advance, or in secondary legislation, this would allow for flexibility and greater control for the parties involved.

5. Implementation

This section sets out what happens once the ASC Negotiating Body has reached an agreement. It also explains what happens if an agreement is not reached. These processes are already defined in the framework of the Employment Rights Bill.

This section also considers preparation for the implementation of a fair pay agreement and seeks views on what we can do to support the sector to be ready.

What happens when the ASC Negotiating Body has reached an agreement

Once the ASC Negotiating Body has reached an agreement, steps will be taken to give the agreement legal effect and make it part of workers’ contracts. The stages are:

• review: where the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, alongside other parts of government, reviews the proposed fair pay agreement to ensure it is affordable and deliverable
• if required, reconsideration: following review, the Secretary of State can either accept the agreement or ask the ASC Negotiating Body to reconsider and make changes
• ratification: if the Secretary of State has accepted the agreement, this will be ratified. This is a process that happens within Parliament to give the fair pay agreement legal effect and make it part of workers’ contracts

These stages are explained in greater detail later in this section.

We know that it is vital to ensure that the sector, particularly employers, workers and commissioners, are aware of these changes and are ready to implement them. This section seeks views on the guidance and communications that could support this.

Review

After the ASC Negotiating Body has reached an agreement, they will need to submit this agreement to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. The Secretaries of State for the Department of Health and Social Care and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will then review and decide whether it is affordable within the funding envelope and deliverable before accepting it. This review could include analysis to independently verify costings.

Officials and the Secretary of State may also seek views from other government departments with a direct interest in the fair pay agreement, including:

• HM Treasury
• Department for Business and Trade

Reconsideration

The government believes that representatives are best placed to negotiate a fair pay agreement for the sector, but it is important for government to ensure that the negotiated outcome can be successfully implemented.

Therefore, following the review stage, the Secretary of State can either accept the agreement or in rare circumstances ask the ASC Negotiating Body to reconsider and submit a revised agreement. Some examples of why the Secretary of State may ask the ASC Negotiating Body to reconsider the agreement are:

• affordability: the government must ensure that the fair pay agreement is affordable within the given funding envelope, and therefore may ask the ASC Negotiating Body to reconsider if it proposes an agreement which is deemed to be unaffordable within the funding envelope
• missing an element of the Secretary of State’s remit letter: if something the Secretary of State laid out in the remit letter has not been considered in negotiations, the Secretary of State may ask for the agreement to be reconsidered
• the role of local government: as we propose that the ASC Negotiating Body must have regard to the views of local government representatives throughout negotiations, the Secretary of State may refer the agreement back if this has not been the case
• feasibility: the government must ensure that the fair pay agreement can be implemented on the ground, but there may be wider changes that have an effect on the adult social care sector, for example in employment law. This may result in an agreement being sent back to the ASC Negotiating Body for reconsideration

Ratification

Once the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has accepted an agreement, it will be ratified.

Ratification is the legal process that incorporates the fair pay agreement in workers’ contracts, if it relates to pay and terms and conditions. Any terms or conditions in the workers’ contracts that are contrary to the agreement are automatically overwritten. This means that from the day the regulations come into force, or another date specified within those regulations, the fair pay agreement becomes automatically enforceable within workers’ contracts.

The only exception is that ratification does not give effect to an agreements’ changes to existing terms or conditions (including pay) in a contract if they would be to a worker’s detriment. This means that if part of the fair pay agreement was less favourable than a care worker’s existing pay and terms and conditions, for example giving fewer days of annual leave, then that part would not apply to their contract. Employers are still free to offer more favourable terms. This will work as follows.

A worker retains their existing contract. Once a fair pay agreement has been ratified:

• where the ratified agreement relates to a social care worker’s pay, this will become the social care worker’s pay unless this would be less than their existing pay, in which case the social care worker will retain their existing pay
• where the ratified agreement relates to another term or condition of a social care worker’s employment, these will become terms and conditions of their employment unless this would change an existing term or condition to the social care worker’s detriment
• where the ratified agreement does not mention a particular term or condition (including pay) of a social care worker’s employment, the social care worker will retain their existing term or condition

These changes will take place automatically as a result of ratification. Employers may need to take steps in response to ensure they comply with the new pay and terms and conditions, including paying their workers in accordance with the ratified agreement.

Section ‘6. Compliance and enforcement’ will discuss the mechanism for ensuring employers are complying with this ratified agreement and that workers have routes to complain if this is not the case.

Ratification is predominantly a Parliamentary process, which starts with a public announcement that the fair pay agreement is accepted. This could be through a written ministerial statement, which is a written statement made in Parliament that puts the ministerial acceptance of the agreement on the public record. This is also the start of the communication and implementation period (see ‘Communications, guidance and codes of practice’ later in this section).

Regulations will be laid through a negative statutory instrument procedure to ratify the agreement - meaning only in rare circumstances will it be debated by Parliament or a committee.

In rare circumstances the government may backdate the agreement. This should only be for a limited amount of time, for example to account for delays in the Parliamentary process, and will be communicated ahead of time.

There may be parts of the fair pay agreement that are not well placed to be in employment contracts - for example, the wider employment matters proposed. Where this happens, statutory guidance or codes of practice may be issued instead to bring those parts of the agreement into effect. This is discussed in more detail later in this section.

Reporting

Once the Secretary of State has accepted an agreement, it will be important to ensure that the sector is clear on the terms of the new agreement and understand how this was decided.

The Employment Rights Bill gives the Secretary of State the ability to ask the ASC Negotiating Body to publish reports. We propose that the ASC Negotiating Body, supported by the secretariat and DHSC, produces a report after the ratification of each fair pay agreement. This report would set out the terms of the new fair pay agreement and summarise the evidence the ASC Negotiating Body considered. This report would be publicly available on GOV.UK.

Failure to reach an agreement following dispute resolution

It is possible that the ASC Negotiating Body could fail to reach agreement even after exhausting the dispute resolution process. If this happens it is important to have a mechanism to improve pay and terms and conditions for workers.

The Employment Rights Bill creates a way to do this, giving the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care the ability to make a determination on pay and terms and conditions to create a fair pay agreement. A ‘determination’ is a decision made by someone who has the legal authority to do so, namely the Secretary of State.

The Secretary of State could only make a determination covering the matters originally referred to the ASC Negotiating Body in the remit letter.

If a determination is made it would be ratified through the affirmative statutory instrument procedures. This means that ratifying a determination would require​ more Parliamentary scrutiny than ratifying an agreement reached by the ASC Negotiating Body and it would require both the House of Commons and House of Lords to debate and approve.

Communications, guidance and codes of practice

Overview

It is vital for us to communicate the changes brought on by the fair pay agreement widely, so workers, employers, local authority commissioners and the sector at large are ready for these changes and know what it means for them.

As outlined above, it may not be possible to incorporate some terms of a fair pay agreement, for example things like a new workplace disciplinary and grievance policy, into workers’ contracts. If this is the case, guidance or a code of practice could be issued.

Regulations could be made to impose duties on organisations and individuals in relation to guidance and codes of practice. The regulations could also set out consequences for not complying with these duties, which could include enabling a court or tribunal to take the breach into account when determining relevant claims and, accordingly, increasing the amount of any compensation it awards to the other party.

Communications and guidance for sector readiness

In addition to statutory guidance specifically related to elements of the fair pay agreement as described above, we may want to consider a wide range of communications and guidance to support the sector as a whole and ensure everyone is ready for implementation of an agreement.

It is important that these pieces of guidance are developed with those who are affected by the agreement. This includes:

• adult social care workers: so that they understand the new rights they are getting as a result of the fair pay agreement and are able to ensure their employer is compliant. Section ‘6. Compliance and enforcement’ covers this in more detail
• employers and managers of adult social care services: so that they can implement the fair pay agreement in their services (for example, supporting them in assessing whether any changes to terms or conditions made by a ratified agreement would be to a worker’s detriment, and whether contracts should be updated). We are conscious that individuals who directly employ adult social care workers may need additional support when implementing a fair pay agreement. We will work with the sector to ensure that the communications and guidance are in place to support individuals to implement an agreement
• commissioners of adult social care and local authorities: to provide information about how the commissioning of adult social care can support the implementation of the fair pay agreement

We know that it is important that any guidance and communications produced are easily accessible to the sector, easy to understand and do not duplicate or contradict any existing resources. It is also vital that guidance is communicated to the widest possible audience.

We plan to work with the sector to achieve this. This will include members of our fair pay agreement working group such as trade unions and employer representatives as well as other organisations within the adult social care sector.

We propose that these pieces of guidance be co-produced and co-published by the ASC Negotiating Body and DHSC, with input from other parts of government where appropriate.

We will consider ways to support ease of access including, but not limited to, DHSC hosting a central webpage for all guidance related to the fair pay agreement.

6. Compliance and enforcement

Employers will be responsible for ensuring that they comply with the terms of a fair pay agreement. From the point that regulations ratifying an agreement come into effect, the fair pay agreement becomes enforceable in workers’ contracts. Guidance and codes of practice will also be issued setting out duties in relation to fair pay agreements. Providers will ultimately be responsible for ensuring that they are adhering to the terms of a ratified fair pay agreement.

As set out in the care and support statutory guidance, local authority commissioners of care have a parallel responsibility to consider the pay and terms and conditions offered to staff employed by care providers from whom they commission services, through their negotiating of provider fee rates and contracts. Pay must be at least sufficient to comply with the National Minimum Wage (NMW) legislation and National Living Wage (NLW) rates for hourly pay or equivalent salary, and this will also need to comply with a fair pay agreement once fair pay agreement regulations come into force. Likewise, the NHS should also ensure that their contractual terms allow for compliance when commissioning social care services and nursing services into social care.

How government will support providers and commissioners to comply with a fair pay agreement

As mentioned in section ‘5. Implementation’, the Employment Rights Bill enables the Secretary of State to make regulations about the issuing of guidance and statutory codes of practice. Regulations may impose duties on organisations related to the guidance and codes of practice. Regulations may provide that if these statutory duties are not followed, they may be taken into account by an employment tribunal when determining a financial award by the tribunal.

The government’s view is that guidance or statutory codes of practice are necessary to support groups to comply with the fair pay agreement. The government intends to use these to support fair pay agreement compliance in the following ways:

• using guidance to explain what the terms of the fair pay agreement mean, how the fair pay agreement affects workers and employers and the actions they need to take. For example, setting out how an employer should assess whether a worker’s existing contractual terms and conditions are better or worse than those in a ratified fair pay agreement, and how they should update their worker’s contract
• using codes of practice to outline what the government expects employers to do. The department also has other levers available, including powers in other pieces of legislation outside of the Employment Rights Bill

Enforcement

We know that it is vital to ensure that workers in scope of a fair pay agreement are receiving the pay and terms and conditions they are entitled to under a fair pay agreement, and that there may be cases where workers do not receive those rights. As such, it is important to have appropriate enforcement regimes in place to investigate any breaches and so that workers have routes to complain if they feel that they are not receiving their rights.

Currently, it is up to the individual worker to enforce their contractual employment rights by pursuing a complaint against their employer over a breach of contract of employment or an unlawful deduction of wages. This applies across all sectors in the economy, including adult social care. Trade unions also have an important role in helping to solve workplace disputes and grievances, as well as advocating for workers’ rights.

The typical first step for a worker is to try and resolve a contractual dispute informally within the workplace or by initiating the employer’s formal grievance process. In addition, workers can seek support from bodies such as Acas that give workers and employers free, confidential and impartial advice on workplace rights, rules and best practice and provide early conciliation services. If the dispute is not resolved, a worker can make a claim with an employment tribunal or start civil court proceedings.

We are aware that non-compliance with existing employment law is already an issue in the adult social care sector. The Fair Work Agency (FWA), which will be established under the Employment Rights Bill, will be responsible for enforcing certain labour market legislation, including the pay elements of a ratified fair pay agreement.

FWA will bring together existing state enforcement functions (including the NMW enforcement functions of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) and Employment Agency Standards (EAS) Inspectorate) and, over time, take on enforcement of a wider range of employment rights such as holiday pay and statutory sick pay. FWA will provide better support to businesses on how to comply with the law and will take tough action against rogue employers who exploit their workers.

Currently, HMRC enforces the NLW and NMW on behalf of the Department for Business and Trade. If employers are found to be breaching the NMW or the NLW, HMRC can recover unpaid wages and impose fines. HMRC can also refer cases on to the Department for Business and Trade for consideration in their naming scheme, which publicly names non-compliant businesses.

FWA may enforce remuneration under a fair pay agreement using the Notice of Underpayment (NoU) regime, which is similar to how the NMW and NLW are currently enforced. The process of the NoU regime is as follows:

• if an employer has failed to pay any workers the correct amount under a statutory pay provision, an FWA officer may issue an NoU, which requires the employer to pay the workers the money they are owed. The NoU must also require the employer to pay a penalty of 200% of the arrears, with a minimum penalty of £100 and maximum penalty of £20,000 per worker
• if an employer, within 14 days of being given the NoU, pays at least 50% of the penalty and pays the worker the amount owed, the penalty is regarded as having been paid in full
• the employer may appeal against the NoU within 28 days of being given the NoU
• if an employer does not comply with the NoU, FWA can start civil proceedings to recover amounts

FWA will use records that employers currently keep under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 to support its enforcement approach. The Employment Rights Bill also provides a power for the Secretary of State to make regulations requiring employers to keep and preserve certain records and this power may be exercised to support fair pay agreement enforcement.

Individual enforcement routes such as Acas and employment tribunals will continue to be available to workers in respect of breaches of remuneration and non-remuneration related terms and conditions that are incorporated into worker contracts by a fair pay agreement.

7. Equalities impact

In accordance with the Equality Act 2010, when making decisions ministers must have ‘due regard’ in relation to protected characteristics to the need to:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination
• improve equality of opportunity
• encourage good relations

The department has been taking this requirement into account in developing these proposals and will use findings from this consultation to develop a full impact assessment.

The relevant protected characteristics are:

• age
• disability
• gender reassignment
• marriage and civil partnership
• pregnancy and maternity
• race
• religion or belief
• sex
• sexual orientation

How to respond

Please respond using the online survey. We welcome responses from any interested person or organisation.

Do not provide personal data when responding to free-text survey questions. Any personal data included will be removed prior to analysis of these responses and will therefore not be considered in the consultation outcome.

The consultation is open for 15 weeks and will close at 11:59pm on 16 January 2026. If you respond after this date, your response will not be considered.

If you have any queries on this consultation, contact ascfpa@dhsc.gov.uk. Do not send your consultation answers or any personal information to this email address.

An easy read version of the survey will be available shortly.

Consultation questions

About you

In what capacity are you responding to this survey?

If you are responding on behalf of someone else, please answer as if you were them. If you are working in adult social care please share your professional views.

• An individual sharing my personal views and experiences
• An individual sharing my professional views (including people working in adult social care)
• On behalf of an organisation
• As an individual employer of one or more personal assistants

The following 10 questions are for:

• individuals sharing personal views
• individuals sharing professional views
• individual employers of one or more personal assistants

What is your age? (Optional)

• Under 18
• 18 to 24
• 25 to 34
• 35 to 44
• 45 to 54
• 55 to 64
• 65 to 74
• 75 or above
• Prefer not to say

What is your sex? (Optional)

• Male
• Female
• Prefer not to say

Is the gender you identify with the same as your sex registered at birth? (Optional)

• Yes
• No
• Prefer not to say

What is your ethnic group? (Optional)

• White - includes British, Northern Irish, Irish, Gypsy, Irish Traveller, Roma or any other White background
• Mixed or multiple ethnic groups - includes White and Black Caribbean, White and Black African, White and Asian or any other Mixed or multiple background
• Asian or British Asian - includes Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese or any other Asian background
• Black, Black British, Caribbean, African or any other Black background
• Other - includes Arab or any other ethnic group
• Prefer not to say

Do you have any physical or mental health conditions, disabilities or illnesses lasting or expected to last for 12 months or more? (Optional)

This is about health conditions, illnesses or impairments you may have. Consider conditions that always affect you and those that flare up from time to time. These may include, for example, sensory conditions, developmental conditions or learning impairments.

• Yes
• No
• Prefer not to say

If you answered ‘yes’, do any of your conditions or illnesses reduce your ability to carry out day-to-day activities? (Optional)

• Yes, a lot
• Yes, a little
• Not at all
• Prefer not to say

Do you (or any adults in your immediate family) currently draw on support for a long-term care need?

This could be support from an unpaid carer (such as a family member) or a paid carer at home or in a residential care setting.

• Yes
• No
• Prefer not to say

Excluding anything you do as part of your paid employment, do you look after, or give any help or support to, anyone because they have long-term physical or mental health conditions or illnesses, or problems related to old age?

Please think about care for family or friends.

• No
• Yes, 9 hours a week or less
• Yes, 10 to 19 hours a week
• Yes, 20 to 34 hours a week
• Yes, 35 to 49 hours a week
• Yes, 50 or more hours a week
• Prefer not to say

Where do you live in the UK? (Optional)

• England
• Scotland
• Wales
• Northern Ireland
• I live outside the UK
• Prefer not to say

If you answered that you live in England, which area of England do you live in? (Optional)

• North East England
• North West England
• Yorkshire and the Humber
• East of England
• East Midlands
• West Midlands
• South East England
• South West England
• London
• Prefer not to say

The following 2 questions are for professionals.

In what capacity are you giving your professional opinion?

• As a member of the health and social care workforce
• As a commissioner of adult social care
• In another professional capacity, please specify

If you answered that you work in the health and social care workforce, do you currently work in adult social care?

• Yes
• No

The following 5 questions are for members of the adult social care workforce.

Which of the following adult social care roles best describes the role you currently work in?

Care providing roles:

• Care worker or assistant care worker
• Senior care worker
• Support or outreach worker
• Personal assistant
• Other care providing role (for example, advocacy), please specify

Regulated professions:

• Social worker
• Occupational therapist
• Registered nurse
• Nursing associate
• Allied health professional

Managerial care-related roles:

• Registered manager
• Team leader or supervisor in a care-related role
• Other care-related managerial role (for example, owner manager, manager or deputy or assistant manager in a care-related role), please specify

Other roles:

• Other care-related role (for example, care co-ordinator, activity co-ordinator, chaplain, safeguarding, commissioning or assessment roles), please specify
• Other support role (for example, business, IT or HR roles, receptionist, cook, cleaner, caretaker or administrative assistant), please specify

Who is your adult social care employer?

Select all that apply.

• Local authority
• Private care provider
• Charitable or not for profit care provider
• Staffing agency
• A person who you care for or support (individual employer)
• Self-employed or independent
• NHS
• Other, please specify

Which of the following services do you currently work in?

If you work in more than one service please select the one you work in the most.

• Care home services with nursing
• Care home services without nursing
• Homecare services (domiciliary care)
• Live-in care
• Support and outreach services
• Extra care housing services
• Shared lives
• Supported living services
• Day care services
• Hospice
• Enablement or reablement
• Short break or respite
• Other adult social care service, please specify

How many hours a week are you contracted to work in adult social care? (Optional)

Please do not include any overtime you may do.

• 0 hours or no guaranteed hours
• 1 to 10 hours
• 11 to 15 hours
• 16 to 20 hours
• 21 to 30 hours
• 31 to 35 hours
• 36 or more hours
• Don’t know
• Prefer not to say

Who do you provide care services for?

Select all that apply.

• Children and young adults (under 18)
• People of working age (aged 18 to 64)
• People aged 65 or over
• Don’t know

The following 4 questions are for organisations.

What type of organisation are you responding on behalf of?

• Adult social care provider
• Trade union
• Local authority
• NHS trust
• Charity
• Other representative body of adult social care workers or providers
• Other, please specify

What is the name of your organisation?

Where does your organisation operate or provide services?

Select all that apply.

• England
• Wales
• Scotland
• Northern Ireland
• Outside the UK

If you answered that your organisation operates in England, in which areas of England does your organisation operate? (Optional)

Select all that apply.

• The whole of England
• North East England
• North West England
• Yorkshire and the Humber
• East of England
• East Midlands
• West Midlands
• South East England
• South West England
• London
• Prefer not to say

The following 3 questions are for adult social care provider organisations.

How many people do you currently employ in adult social care services?

• 0 to 9 employees
• 10 to 49 employees
• 50 to 249 employees
• 250 to 500 employees
• 501 to 1000 employees
• 1001 to 3000 employees
• More than 3000 employees

What type of adult social care services do you provide?

Select all that apply.

• Care home services with nursing
• Care home services without nursing
• Homecare services (domiciliary care)
• Live-in care
• Support and outreach services
• Extra care housing services
• Shared lives
• Supported living services
• Day care services
• Hospice
• Local authority adult social care services
• Enablement or reablement
• Short break or respite
• Other adult social care service, please specify

Who does your organisation provide care services for?

Select all that apply.

• Children and young adults (under 18)
• People of working age (18 to 64 year olds)
• People aged 65 or over
• Don’t know

Adult Social Care Negotiating Body

This section considers the establishment of the Adult Social Care Negotiating Body for England (‘the ASC Negotiating Body’). It seeks views on how the ASC Negotiating Body could be set up to successfully create fair pay agreements.

Supporting the ASC Negotiating Body

The following 3 questions are for:

• organisations
• individual employers of personal assistants
• individuals responding in a professional capacity

To help negotiations go smoothly, the ASC Negotiating Body will need a secretariat function.

There are 2 options for how this secretariat function could be delivered:

• option 1: staffed by civil servants seconded into the ASC Negotiating Body (if it is established as a non-departmental public body, as proposed). If the ASC Negotiating Body is an expert committee, it will be staffed by civil servants within the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
• option 2: contracted out to an external delivery partner. This would involve a regular procurement exercise, where organisations could bid for the secretariat contract. The successful organisation would be accountable to the department through a contract management relationship. If we establish an advisory non-departmental public body, there will still need to be a small number of civil servants involved to oversee this operation

Which option for delivering the secretariat function do you believe is best suited to the fair pay agreement process?

• Option 1 - delivered by civil servants
• Option 2 - delivered mainly by an external delivery partner
• Neither option
• Don’t know
• Prefer not to say

Please explain your position and provide any supporting evidence. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

We are proposing to establish the ASC Negotiating Body as a non-departmental public body, operating at arm’s length from DHSC, overseen by an independent chair and supported by a secretariat function.

If you have further comments on the proposed approach to establishing the ASC Negotiating Body, please include them here. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Representation on the ASC Negotiating Body

The following 12 questions are for everyone.

This section seeks views on:

• how the voice of workers and employers in the sector could be represented on the ASC Negotiating Body
• how others such as local government could be involved in the process
• the appointments process

Worker representation

The section ‘worker representation’ in the consultation document outlines a proposal developed by the Trades Union Congress, working with partner unions, for how workers could be represented in negotiations.

We propose that UNISON, GMB, Unite and the Royal College of Nursing, working with the Trades Union Congress as the convener, will form an adult social care fair pay agreements trade union group. This group will represent workers on the ASC Negotiating Body and will manage how worker representatives are co-ordinated and selected.

Do you agree or disagree with this proposal?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree
• Don’t know
• Prefer not to say

Please explain your position and provide any supporting evidence. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Employer representation

The consultation document outlines our proposal for employer representatives on the ASC Negotiating Body, including how representatives could be co-ordinated and selected.

Do you agree or disagree with our proposal for co-ordinating and selecting employer representatives?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree
• Don’t know
• Prefer not to say

Please explain your position and provide any supporting evidence. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Role of local government

The section ‘the role of local government’ in the consultation document proposes a package of measures to ensure local government has a strong role in the negotiation process. This includes the following:

• specifying within the remit letter that the ASC Negotiating Body must consult with local government and consider their views
• building the role of local government into the terms of reference for the ASC Negotiating Body and the roles and responsibilities of the chair
• local government representatives will be able to provide the Secretary of State with a written assessment of the proposed fair pay agreement, which the Secretary of State must give due regard to when deciding whether to ratify an agreement

Do you agree or disagree with our proposed approach for involving local government in the fair pay agreements process?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree
• Don’t know
• Prefer not to say

Please explain your position and provide any supporting evidence. If there are other ways you think that local government should be involved, please also state that here. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Other organisations

Do you think that there are any other organisations who should be members of the ASC Negotiating Body, in addition to the proposed worker and employer representatives?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know
• Prefer not to say

If you answered ‘yes’, which other organisations should be members of the ASC Negotiating Body, and why? (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Others’ interests 

How should the interests of people who pay for their own care be considered as part of the negotiation process? (Optional, maximum 250 words)

How should the interests of NHS commissioners be considered as part of the negotiation process? (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Membership criteria

Are there any specific criteria that you think the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care should consider when appointing members to the ASC Negotiating Body?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know
• Prefer not to say

Please explain your position and provide any supporting evidence. If you answered ‘yes’, please also state the criteria you think should be considered. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Negotiation process

This section considers how the negotiation process could work. It proposes an approach and seeks feedback on whether this will help negotiations be successful.

How the negotiations would start

The following 2 questions are for:

• organisations
• individual employers of personal assistants
• individuals responding in a professional capacity

The section ‘How negotiations would start’ in the consultation document outlines a proposal that the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care would issue a formal ‘remit letter’ to the ASC Negotiating Body to commence each cycle of negotiations. We propose that this letter sets out:

• any priority areas that the government would like to be considered, which could include specific roles, or areas of pay or certain terms and conditions
• any other factors that the ASC Negotiating Body should consider, or conditions the agreement must meet. This includes specifying the amount of funding available for that round of negotiations, which the ASC Negotiating Body will need to work within
• the timelines by which the ASC Negotiating Body should aim to reach an agreement and submit this to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Is there anything else that you think a letter from the Secretary of State should set out?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know
• Prefer not to say

Please explain your position and provide any supporting evidence. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

How negotiations would work

The following 2 questions are for everyone.

The section ‘how negotiations would work’ in the consultation document outlines the proposed negotiation process.

Do you agree or disagree with our proposal for how negotiations will work?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree
• Don’t know
• Prefer not to say

Please explain your position and provide any supporting evidence. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

How the ASC Negotiating Body reaches a decision

The following 2 questions are for:

• organisations
• individual employers of personal assistants
• individuals responding in a professional capacity

The section ‘how the negotiating body reaches a decision’ in the consultation document outlines the proposed decision making process.

Do you agree or disagree with our proposal that each of the bargaining sides manages their own voting system, with a requirement that each side simply informs the chair whether they can support a proposed settlement?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree
• Don’t know
• Prefer not to say

Please explain your position and provide any supporting evidence. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Timelines

The following 4 questions are for:

• organisations
• individual employers of personal assistants
• individuals responding in a professional capacity who are not members of the health and social care workforce

The section ‘timelines’ in the consultation document outlines the proposed timelines for the negotiating process.

Do you think 6 months is enough time for an agreement to be reached in negotiations?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know
• Prefer not to say

Please explain your position and provide any supporting evidence. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Do you think 6 months is enough time for the sector to prepare for implementation of the pay agreement?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know
• Prefer not to say

Please explain your position and provide any supporting information on what would be needed to make this possible. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Coverage and remit

This section seeks views on different areas of pay, terms and conditions, and wider employment policies. It also seeks views on who (what type of job roles, services and settings) the ASC Negotiating Body should cover.

Checking whether a worker falls within coverage of the ASC Negotiating Body

The following 3 questions are for:

• organisations
• individual employers of personal assistants

It is the responsibility of the employer to check whether the majority of their workers’ (or agency workers’) time is spent on activities related to adult social care.

We think in most cases it will be straightforward to check. However, we understand that employers of workers in adult social care may sometimes find it difficult to check whether their worker fits within the definition of an adult social care worker, particularly if they work across different care settings or sectors such as education, health or children’s social care.

Are there any roles, either in your organisation or that you employ, that you are concerned do not fit within the definition of an adult social care worker and would not be within coverage of the ASC Negotiating Body?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know
• Prefer not to say

If you answered ‘yes’, please explain your position and provide any supporting evidence. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

How can DHSC support you or your organisation to determine whether your workers will be within coverage of the ASC Negotiating Body? (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Excluded sections of the workforce

The following 9 questions are for everyone.

The section on ‘Excluded sections of the workforce’ in the consultation document looks at which roles in the workforce should be included in the scope of the ASC Negotiating Body. We are seeking views on whether this should include all adult social care workers or be limited to specific roles or professions, and whether any roles should be excluded from the ASC Negotiating Body’s coverage.

Are there any settings, services or roles that you think should be excluded from the ASC Negotiating Body’s coverage?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know
• Prefer not to say

If you answered ‘yes’, please explain who should not be in coverage and why. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Are there any other settings, services or roles that you think should be included within the ASC Negotiating Body’s coverage that have not been mentioned?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know
• Prefer not to say

If you answered ‘yes’, please explain who should be in coverage and why. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Please share any thoughts on whether the ASC Negotiating Body could affect those that are self-employed or working under informal arrangements. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Areas of the workforce to note

The government’s policy intention is to unite the adult social care workforce by giving this fragmented sector a much-needed national infrastructure, providing the opportunity to standardise existing best practice and formalise routes for the workforce to access better pay, terms and conditions, and career and development opportunities.

However, it may not be appropriate for the ASC Negotiating Body to cover some areas of the workforce because of unique factors. Here, we are seeking views on whether adult social care workers employed directly by local authorities or the NHS should be covered by the ASC Negotiating Body.

Do you agree or disagree that workers covered by the National Joint Council should be in the ASC Negotiating Body’s coverage?

This question is specifically in relation to adult social care workers employed by local government.

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree
• Don’t know
• Prefer not to say

Please explain your position and provide any supporting evidence. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Do you agree or disagree that workers covered by the Agenda for Change contract should be in the ASC Negotiating Body’s coverage?

This question is specifically in relation to adult social care workers employed by the NHS.

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree
• Don’t know
• Prefer not to say

Please explain your position and provide any supporting evidence. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Cross-border workers

The following 4 questions are for adult social care provider organisations.

Do you currently manage a service across the borders between England and Wales or England and Scotland?

• Yes
• No

If you answered ‘yes’, how do you currently manage the differences between the current adult social care systems? For example, different pay and training requirements. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

In principle, would having to comply with different legal requirements for pay and terms and conditions in different countries cause you to reconsider your operations and where you provide care?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

Please explain your position and provide any supporting evidence. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

The following 2 questions are for members of the adult social care workforce.

If pay and terms and conditions were different between England, Wales and Scotland, would this have any effect on your choice of job, where you work or where you live?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

If you answered ‘yes’, please explain how this might affect you and provide any supporting evidence. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

The following 2 questions are for:

• adult social care provider organisations
• members of the adult social care workforce

Which would you prefer when there is the potential for a worker to be covered by more than one fair pay agreement?

• A worker follows the fair pay agreement pay and terms and conditions for the number of hours worked in that nation
• A worker follows the one fair pay agreement where they spend the majority of their time working, receiving the same pay and terms and conditions for all the hours worked
• A worker follows the one fair pay agreement for where they are resident, receiving the same pay and terms and conditions for all the hours worked
• Other
• Don’t know

Please explain your position and provide any supporting evidence. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Informing the remit of the ASC Negotiating Body

The following 11 questions are for everyone.

The Employment Rights Bill sets a remit for the ASC Negotiating Body to negotiate matters that relate to:

• the remuneration (pay) of adult social care workers
• the terms and conditions of employment of adult social care workers
• any other matter related to employment of an adult social care worker, which must be specified in regulations

This section of the consultation seeks views on different elements of pay and terms and conditions, as well as other employment policies (such as training and development, policies on people and culture, and additional benefits and financial incentives) that could be part of the ASC Negotiating Body’s remit.

Pay priorities

Low pay is a contributing factor to poor domestic recruitment and retention. By improving pay, we can support the delivery of high-quality care for people, leading to a more skilled, experienced and productive workforce.

Out of the following areas of pay, which do you think should be a priority for the Secretary of State’s first remit letter to the ASC Negotiating Body?

Select up to 3 priorities.

• Setting a pay floor (a sectoral minimum wage) above the National Living Wage
• Setting pay bands linked to career progression
• Introducing qualification or skills-linked pay
• Bonuses (for example, seasonal bonus payments)
• Pay supplements (for example, for unsociable hours or to support recruitment and retention)
• Don’t know
• Other, please specify
• None of the above

Please explain your position and provide any supporting evidence. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Terms and conditions priorities

Workers in adult social care are often employed on statutory minimum terms and conditions, including statutory sick pay and annual leave entitlements. This is often an important reason workers leave their roles or are not attracted to the role in the first place.

The Employment Rights Bill delivers an improvement in employment rights for all workers, including strengthening statutory sick pay and introducing rights to guaranteed hours which are particularly relevant for adult social care workers. The following questions are not about those changes. Instead, they focus on how a fair pay agreement could go further.

Out of the following terms and conditions, which do you think should be a priority for the Secretary of State to consider as part of their remit letter to the ASC Negotiating Body?

Select up to 3 priorities.

• Pay for time and costs of travelling between visits (in addition to the statutory minimum of National Living Wage)
• Pay for sleep-in or night shifts
• Hours of working week, including guaranteed hours and zero-hours contracts
• Overtime pay
• Enhanced sick pay or sick leave
• Paid holiday or annual leave
• Pension contributions and conditions
• Injury allowance
• Don’t know
• Other, please specify
• None of the above

Please explain your answer and provide any supporting evidence. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Wider employment matters

Training, development and career progression

It might be appropriate to include training, development and career progression within the ASC Negotiating Body’s remit.

Which, if any, of the following areas within training, development and career progression do you think should be included within the ASC Negotiating Body’s remit?

Select all that apply.

• Training entitlements (for example, include annual training days, access to a training budget, the right to request training)
• Specialised training (for example, dementia training, artificial intelligence training, delegated healthcare tasks)
• Policies to support career progression for the workforce
• Policies to support development opportunities for the workforce
• Policies to support specific qualifications for the workforce
• Don’t know
• Other, please specify
• None of the above - training, development and career progression should not be included

Please explain your answer and provide any supporting evidence. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

People and culture

It might be appropriate to also include people and culture policies within the ASC Negotiating Body’s remit.

Which, if any, of the following areas within people and culture policy do you think should be included within the ASC Negotiating Body’s remit?

Select all that apply.

• Equality, diversity and inclusion policies
• Wellbeing policies
• Dignity at work (including bullying, harassment and discrimination) policies
• Family-friendly or balance between work and personal life (including flexible working) policies
• Health and safety in the workplace (including preventing violence in the workplace) policies
• Whistleblowing and speak up schemes
• Don’t know
• Other, please specify
• None of the above - people and culture policy should not be included

Please explain your answer and provide any supporting evidence. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Additional benefits and financial support

It might be appropriate to also include additional benefits and financial support within the ASC Negotiating Body’s remit.

Which, if any, of the following areas within additional benefits and financial support do you think should be included within the ASC Negotiating Body’s remit?

Select all that apply.

• Travel to work schemes (for example, travel season ticket loans, discount for transport, free parking schemes)
• Tailored financial support (for example, financial coaching, student loan assistance)
• Travel and expenses (for example, subsistence allowance, reimbursement of travel costs)
• Other incentives (for example, staff counselling, wellbeing schemes)
• Don’t know
• Other, please specify
• None of the above - additional benefits and financial support should not be included

Please explain your answer and provide any supporting evidence. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

If there are any additional areas that the ASC Negotiating Body should consider or have in its remit, please outline them here. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Dispute resolution

The following 2 questions are for:

• organisations
• individuals responding in a professional capacity who are not members of the health and social care workforce

This section considers what happens if the ASC Negotiating Body fails to reach an agreement and seeks views on how disputes should be resolved, to support the ASC Negotiating Body to successfully reach an agreement. We have developed a proposal through collaboration with the fair pay agreement working group and task and finish groups with unions, providers, local government and others which is outlined in detail in the ‘Dispute resolution’ section of the consultation document.

Do you agree or disagree with our proposed approach to dispute resolution, where disputes are triggered by the chair and referred to Acas for independent resolution? (Optional)

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree
• Don’t know
• Prefer not to say

Please explain your answer and provide any supporting evidence. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Implementation

The following 3 questions are for:

• organisations
• individual employers of personal assistants
• individuals responding in a professional capacity who are not members of the health and social care workforce

This section sets out what happens once the ASC Negotiating Body has reached an agreement. It seeks views on what we can do to support the sector to be ready.

What do you think should be included in guidance and communications to support you to implement fair pay agreements? (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Do you agree or disagree that DHSC and the ASC Negotiating Body should co-author and publish guidance? (Optional)

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree
• Don’t know
• Prefer not to say

Please explain your answer and provide any supporting evidence. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Compliance and enforcement

This section sets out how the fair pay agreement will be enforced and seeks views on how we can support employers and commissioners of care to comply with the agreement.

The following 2 questions are for:

• organisations
• individual employers of personal assistants
• individuals responding in a professional capacity who are not members of the health and social care workforce

What do you need guidance on to help you or your organisation to comply with a fair pay agreement? (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Please share any other views or comments about how the department can support providers and commissioners of care to comply with a fair pay agreement. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

The following question is for:

• members of the adult social care workforce
• adult social care provider organisations
• individual employers of personal assistants

Please share any views or evidence from your perspective about the current processes for resolving disputes and complaints about contracts of employment, pay or working conditions. If there are any changes that you think should be made to these processes, please include them in your response. (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Equalities impact

The following 6 questions are for everyone.

We are interested to know what impact this policy could have on groups of people who have protected characteristics. The protected characteristics are:

• age
• disability
• gender reassignment
• marriage and civil partnership
• pregnancy and maternity
• race
• religion or belief
• sex
• sexual orientation

We are also interested to hear about other groups you think might be positively or negatively impacted by the proposed policy.

Are there any groups of people, such as (but not limited to) those with protected characteristics, who you believe would be positively impacted by the proposals in this consultation?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

If you answered ‘yes’, please select the characteristics of the groups that you think will be positively impacted by the proposals. (Optional)

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation
• Other group, please specify

If you answered ‘yes’, why do you think these groups will be positively impacted? (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Are there any groups of people, such as (but not limited to) those with protected characteristics, who would be negatively impacted by the proposals in this consultation?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

If you answered ‘yes’, please select the characteristics of the groups that you think will be negatively impacted by the proposals. (Optional)

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation
• Other group, please specify

If you answered ‘yes’, why do you think these groups will be negatively impacted? (Optional, maximum 250 words)

Privacy notice

Data controller

The Department of Health and Social Care is the data controller.

What personal data we collect 

We will collect data on:  

• in what capacity you are responding to the survey

If you’re responding in a personal capacity, we will collect data on: 

• if you are a member of the health and social care workforce
• if you are an unpaid carer
• if you are an individual employer of personal assistants
• if you or someone in your immediate family currently draw on care and support

If you’re responding in a professional capacity, we will collect data on: 

• in what capacity you are giving your professional opinion
• your job title
• your employer
• the type of care and support you provide
• the number of hours you are contracted to work
• who you provide care services for
• which areas of the UK you work in

If you’re responding on behalf of an organisation, we will collect data on: 

• the type of organisation
• the name of the organisation
• nations your organisation operates in
• the number of people your organisation employs

If volunteered by you, we will also collect data on:  

• your personal characteristics (age, sex, gender, disability status and ethnicity)
• your geographical location

How we use your data (purposes) 

Your data will be treated in the strictest of confidence.   

We collect your personal data as part of the consultation process for statistical purposes, for example to understand whether views and experiences vary across demographics and to understand how representative the results are. Your personal data will also be used to route you to the relevant questions. 

Data collected will be held securely in SurveyOptic, downloaded and anonymised by DHSC. Aggregated data with statistical controls applied may be shared with other government departments and NHS England. Free text responses will be grouped into themes using topic modelling techniques.

Legal basis for processing personal data 

Under Article 6 of the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing personal data are:

• (e) the processing is necessary to perform a task or function in the public interest or for our official functions and the task or function has a clear basis in law 

In addition, we are also processing special category data under the following condition(s) as per Article 9 of the UK GDPR: 

• (g) reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law), namely statutory and government purposes 

Data processors and other recipients of personal data 

Responses to the consultation will be seen by DHSC’s third-party supplier (SocialOptic), who is responsible for running and hosting the online survey.

DHSC may also share your responses with the colleagues listed below (data will be anonymised with statistical controls applied): 

• individuals supporting this project within DHSC’s executive agencies or executive non-departmental public bodies, such as NHS England
• other government departments

For the purposes of any publication, responses will be aggregated with statistical controls applied. Any comments that are quoted to highlight common themes in the data will be anonymised to safeguard against individuals being identified.  

International data transfers and storage locations 

Storage of data by DHSC is provided through secure computing infrastructure on servers located in the European Economic Area (EEA). Our platforms are subject to extensive security protections and encryption measures. 

Storage of data by SocialOptic is provided on secure servers located in the UK. 

Retention and disposal policy 

DHSC will only retain your personal data for up to one year. 

SocialOptic will securely erase the data held on their system 12 months after the online consultation closes, or when instructed to do so by DHSC if the data has served its intended purpose (whichever happens earlier). Upon instruction by DHSC, SocialOptic may require up to 8 weeks to dispose of data.  

Anonymised data may be kept longer. 

How we keep your data secure 

DHSC uses appropriate technical, organisational and administrative security measures to protect any information we hold in our records from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. We have written procedures and policies which are regularly audited and reviewed at a senior level. 

SocialOptic is Cyber Essentials certified. 

Your rights as a data subject 

By law, data subjects have a number of rights, and this processing does not take away or reduce these rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the UK Data Protection Act 2018 applies. 

These rights are: 

1. The right to get copies of information - individuals have the right to ask for a copy of any information about them that is used. 

2. The right to get information corrected - individuals have the right to ask for any information held about them that they think is inaccurate, to be corrected. 

3. The right to limit how the information is used - individuals have the right to ask for any of the information held about them to be restricted, for example, if they think inaccurate information is being used. 

4. The right to object to the information being used - individuals can ask for any information held about them to not be used. However, this is not an absolute right, and continued use of the information may be necessary, with individuals being advised if this is the case. 

5. The right to get information deleted - this is not an absolute right, and continued use of the information may be necessary, with individuals being advised if this is the case. 

Comments or complaints 

Anyone unhappy or wishing to complain about how personal data is used as part of this programme, should contact DHSC’s Data Protection Officer: 

Email: data_protection@dhsc.gov.uk

Post:

Data Protection Officer 
1st Floor North 
39 Victoria Street 
London 
SW1H 0EU 

Anyone who is still not satisfied can complain to the Information Commissioners Office. Their website address is www.ico.org.uk and their postal address is: 

Information Commissioner’s Office 
Wycliffe House 
Water Lane 
Wilmslow 
Cheshire 
SK9 5AF 

Automated decision making or profiling 

No decision will be made about individuals solely based on automated decision making (where a decision is taken about them using an electronic system without human involvement) which has a significant effect on them.

Changes to this policy 

This privacy notice is kept under regular review. This privacy notice was last updated on 30 September 2025.

Glossary 

Agency worker

A worker that has a contract with an employment agency but works temporarily under the direction and control of an end hirer.

Agenda for Change

The collective bargaining process which sets terms and conditions for a large part of the NHS workforce.

Bank staff

A flexible workforce who can be contacted by an employer to work on an as-needed basis when regular staff are unavailable. They fill in staff shortages, cover shifts for planned absences, emergencies or increased service demands.

Collective bargaining

Collective bargaining is a process where a group of workers, often represented by a union, negotiate with their employer to agree on terms and conditions of employment, such as wages, working hours and benefits. It allows workers to approach employers as a unified group, aiming to reach an agreement that benefits everyone. 

Compliance

The act of doing everything that someone tells or wants you to do. In this consultation referring specifically to legal requirements.

Dispute resolution

The process of settling disagreements between parties, where negotiations are at a genuine stalemate and cannot be progressed without intervention.

Enforcement

The mechanism for ensuring that groups are complying with the ratified terms of a fair pay agreement and that workers have routes to complain where these terms have been breached.

Fair pay agreement

A legally enforceable national set of terms and conditions that all workers covered by the agreement are entitled to. It is the product of a process called sectoral collective bargaining, a form of collective bargaining which enables employers, worker representatives and any others in partnership to negotiate pay and terms and conditions.

Fair Work Agency

An executive agency of the Department of Business and Trade, responsible for the enforcement of labour market legislation. It will consolidate existing enforcement functions and take on new functions such as the enforcement of holiday pay.

Mediation

The process where an impartial third party, the mediator, helps 2 or more people in a disagreement reach a mutually agreeable resolution. It’s a voluntary process where the parties work together with the mediator to identify issues, explore options and negotiate a solution. 

National care service

A proposed system that would ensure consistency of care across the country through national standards that ensure high-quality care and ongoing sustainability.

National Joint Council

Is the body responsible for the collective bargaining process that covers 1.4 million workers in local government, providing minimum pay and terms and conditions which are published in the Green Book.

Negotiating body

A body that brings together representatives of employers, workers and potentially others to undertake bespoke negotiations on pay and terms and conditions. 

People and culture policies

Policies that support a safe, inclusive and respectful workplace, covering areas like wellbeing, equality, dignity at work, health and safety, and whistleblowing.

Primary legislation

The main laws passed by the UK Parliament and other legislative bodies like the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly. These laws, often called Acts of Parliament or statutes, form the core of the legal framework and are the highest form of legislation. 

Ratification

The making of regulations by the Secretary of State to give effect to an agreement submitted by the Negotiating Body. The effect of ratification is that the pay and terms and conditions set out in that agreement will take effect as terms of social care workers’ contracts.

Regulations

Sets of rules or guidelines, often established by a government or other authority, to control or manage activities or behaviours. They are a form of secondary legislation. (also see: secondary legislation). 

Remuneration

Money paid for work or a service.

Secondary legislation

Law created by ministers or other bodies, under powers granted to them by an Act of Parliament. It serves to provide details and practical measures for implementing primary legislation (Acts of Parliament) and making them enforceable in daily life.

Statutory

Something that is decided, controlled or required by law.

Statutory sick pay

A weekly payment provided by employers to eligible workers who are off work sick for more than 3 days.

Terms and conditions

Outline the rights and obligations of both employers and workers, forming the legally binding agreement of employment. 

Trade unions

Independent organisations that represent the interests of workers, particularly in the workplace.

Zero-hours contracts

An employment agreement where an employer doesn’t guarantee any minimum working hours, and the worker isn’t obligated to accept any work offered.