Homecare Association publishes Minimum Price for Homecare 2023-24

The Homecare Association has published its new calculation for the Minimum Price for Homecare of £25.95 per hour in England, effective from April 2023, when the National Living Wage increases to £10.42 per hour.

Our Minimum Price is the amount required to ensure the minimum legally compliant pay rate for careworkers (excluding any enhancements for unsocial hours working), their travel time, mileage, and wage-related on-costs. The rate also includes the minimum contribution towards the costs of running a care business which complies with quality requirements at a financially sustainable level.

A number of factors have impacted this year’s Minimum Price for Homecare, including: increased inflation rates, the sky-high price of fuel and rising rent, rates and utilities.

The Minimum Price is widely recognised within the social care and health sectors in all four UK administrations. For the first time this year, we have produced separate reports and prices for each UK nation, reviewing both the assumptions upon which our calculations are based and the data that informs these assumptions.

Inevitably, the new Minimum Price has funding and other implications for the sector. We make the following calls for action:

Central government

To provide adequate funding to local authorities to enable them to pay a fair price for care, which enables careworkers to receive wages equivalent to Band 3 healthcare assistants in the NHS with 2+ years’ experience.

To publish the results of the Fair Cost of Care exercises and Market Sustainability reports and use these to understand the cost of care delivery.

Local authorities

To move without delay to discussing and agreeing fee rates for 2023-24 with providers, understanding costs and taking fair account of wage and other inflation of at least 9.7%.

Providers

To avoid signing contracts with commissioning bodies, unless confident that prices are sustainable and enable the right quality of care to be delivered.

You can read the individual reports for each nation below.