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• One in seven have stayed at home to look after a relative due to lack of care staff
• Truss Piece: Withdraw the £115,000 Ex-PM Allowance

One in seven have stayed at home to look after a relative due to lack of care staff

• One in seven had to stay at home to look after a relative because of lack of care workers

• Lib Dem Leader calls for new ‘Carer’s Minimum Wage’ to tackle chronic staff shortages in social care

• New figures reveal care workers paid less than those in retail, hospitality and supermarkets

A staggering one in seven UK adults say they’ve had to stay at home to look after a relative over the last 12 months due to a lack of care workers, a new poll has revealed.

The survey, commissioned by the Liberal Democrats, reveals millions of Brits have had to step in to look after a loved one due to a lack of professional carers in their area. A further one in five (22%) UK adults say either they or someone else they know have paid for a private carer to look after a relative.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey is today announcing proposals for a new Carer’s Minimum Wage, to tackle the huge staff shortages in the social care sector. Under the Liberal Democrat plans, social care workers would be paid at least £2 an hour more than the current minimum wage, bringing their pay up to at least £11.50 an hour today – and £12.42 from this April. The proposals would benefit 850,000 workers, making up more than half of all people working in frontline care.

The Liberal Democrats have said that the Government must give councils an extra £1bn a year to cover the higher staff costs, and say ministers must always take account of minimum wage rises when setting social care budgets. The party says its policy would be funded by increasing the tax on online gambling providers’ profits, known as Remote Gaming Duty, to 42%. Research by Public Health England has revealed gambling’s negative health impact and the pressures that it puts on the healthcare system.

The proposals would tackle soaring staff vacancies in the care sector. There are currently a staggering 165,000 vacancies in social care, up 55,000 since last year, with one in nine frontline care jobs vacant. These chronic staff shortages are leading to patients being left stuck in hospital waiting for social care, contributing to record-breaking waits in A&E and dangerous ambulance handover delays.