Yes, many care workers have already seen their minimum hourly pay increase in 2026, while a much bigger change to the way pay is determined across adult social care is being prepared for 2028.

From 1 April 2026, the National Living Wage increased from £12.21 to £12.71 per hour for workers aged 21 and over. Because social care remains a relatively low-paid sector, this change directly affected a substantial part of the workforce.

Skills for Care estimated that, as of December 2025, 48% of workers in the independent adult social care sector were earning below £12.71 per hour. That represented roughly 640,000 filled posts that would be directly affected by the new minimum wage rate.

However, the National Living Wage increase should not be confused with the government’s separate Fair Pay Agreement for adult social care. That new system is intended to establish sector-wide negotiations covering pay and employment conditions, with the first agreement due to take effect in April 2028.

What Changed for Care Worker Pay From April 2026?

The immediate pay change came through the National Living Wage rather than a care-sector-specific pay award.

The official National Living Wage announcement confirms that the statutory hourly rate for workers aged 21 and over increased by 50p an hour, from £12.21 to £12.71, on 1 April 2026. That represents a 4.1% increase.

The new statutory rates are:

Worker category 2025 rate From 1 April 2026 Increase
Age 21 and over £12.21 £12.71 50p
Age 18–20 £10.00 £10.85 85p
Age 16–17 £7.55 £8.00 45p
Apprentice rate £7.55 £8.00 45p

These are minimum legal rates rather than recommended salaries. A care provider can pay more, but eligible workers cannot normally be paid below the applicable statutory minimum.

The change forms part of the wider [April 2026 pay rise affecting UK workers] April 2026 pay rise across the UK.

How Much More Could a Care Worker Earn in 2026?

For a care worker aged 21 or over who was previously paid exactly the 2025 National Living Wage of £12.21, moving to £12.71 means an additional 50p for every hour worked.

The approximate gross difference looks like this:

Weekly hours Previous weekly pay at £12.21 Pay at £12.71 Weekly increase Approx. annual increase*
20 hours £244.20 £254.20 £10.00 £520
30 hours £366.30 £381.30 £15.00 £780
37.5 hours £457.88 £476.63 £18.75 £975
40 hours £488.40 £508.40 £20.00 £1,040

*Based on the same hours being worked for 52 weeks and before tax, National Insurance, pension contributions or other deductions.

The actual change in take-home pay will vary according to contracted hours, overtime, tax, pension contributions and any means-tested benefits received by the household.

Will Every Care Worker Receive the Same Pay Rise?

Care Worker Receive the Same Pay Rise

No. The £12.71 rate establishes a minimum floor, not a uniform care worker salary.

For example, someone who was earning £12.30 per hour before April 2026 would need an increase of at least 41p to reach £12.71.

However, a worker already earning £13.50 per hour would not automatically be legally entitled to another 50p increase simply because the National Living Wage changed.

Employers may separately decide to increase wages for staff already earning above the minimum in order to:

This issue is especially important in social care because increases in the statutory wage floor have gradually narrowed some of the pay differences between new and experienced workers.

Why Does the National Living Wage Have Such a Big Effect on Social Care?

Adult social care has a particularly high concentration of jobs close to the legal minimum wage.

Skills for Care’s December 2025 data showed a median hourly care worker rate of £12.60 in the independent sector. That was only 39p above the then National Living Wage of £12.21 and actually below the £12.71 statutory rate that arrived in April 2026.

The same research found that:

The final figure highlights one of the sector’s longer-term pay problems. Increasing the minimum wage improves the earnings of the lowest-paid workers, but it can also compress the difference between entry-level and more experienced roles unless employers raise the rest of their pay structure as well.

What Is the Fair Pay Agreement for Care Workers?

The Fair Pay Agreement is potentially more significant than the annual National Living Wage increase because it is being created specifically for adult social care in England.

The government is establishing an Adult Social Care Negotiating Body, bringing representatives of employers and trade unions together to negotiate matters affecting workers across the sector.

According to the government’s latest adult social care Fair Pay Agreement plans, negotiations are expected to cover pay alongside wider employment matters.

The first agreement is backed by £500 million of government funding for 2028–29. The funding is intended to help meet the increased cost of the agreement when it is introduced.

What Will the Negotiating Body Do?

The Adult Social Care Negotiating Body will provide a formal national mechanism through which employers and worker representatives can negotiate.

Areas under consideration include:

An independent chair is also expected to oversee the negotiating process.

This is different from the current system, where many private and voluntary care providers determine their own pay rates independently, subject primarily to minimum wage legislation and contractual obligations.

When Could the Fair Pay Agreement Increase Care Worker Pay?

The first Fair Pay Agreement is scheduled to take effect in April 2028, rather than immediately in 2026.

The current timetable is:

Stage Expected timing
Regulations establishing the system 2026
Negotiating body and members established 2026–27
First negotiations begin Around April 2027
Agreement reviewed and ratified Before April 2028
First Fair Pay Agreement takes effect April 2028

The government confirmed in July 2026 that the first negotiating round is expected to begin in April 2027, with the first settlement introduced by April 2028.

Therefore, workers should not interpret the £500 million announcement as meaning that everyone in social care is receiving an additional centrally funded pay rise immediately.

The precise pay rates and employment terms under the first agreement have not yet been negotiated.

How Much Will Care Workers Be Paid Under the Fair Pay Agreement?

There is currently no confirmed national hourly rate for the 2028 Fair Pay Agreement.

Figures suggesting that every care worker has already been guaranteed a particular hourly wage should therefore be treated cautiously.

The negotiating body first needs to determine how the available funding should be used. The resulting agreement will then be considered by the Secretary of State in relation to affordability and implementation before being ratified.

What is confirmed is that the first agreement has a government funding envelope of £500 million for 2028–29.

Until negotiations are completed, it is not possible to state reliably whether the final agreement will produce:

Those details will emerge through the formal negotiation process.

Which Care Workers Could Be Covered by the Agreement?

The Fair Pay Agreement relates to the paid adult social care workforce in England.

Government guidance says the negotiating structure is intended to cover adult social care workers falling within the relevant legal definition, but there are important exclusions.

It does not generally cover:

For example, workers covered by NHS Agenda for Change arrangements are excluded from the initial adult social care Fair Pay Agreement because their salaries already operate through a separate national system. The same distinction is important when comparing the changes with the NHS pay changes for 2026.

Will Care Assistants in Care Homes Get the Increase?

Care Assistants in Care Homes

Care assistants working for care homes are entitled to at least the applicable National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage if they meet the normal eligibility rules.

Therefore, a care home worker aged 21 or above cannot normally be paid less than £12.71 per hour from 1 April 2026.

However, their actual rate could be higher depending on the employer, location, experience and responsibilities.

Care homes may use different pay bands for positions such as:

The National Living Wage sets the minimum; it does not determine what every role should earn.

Are Home Care and Domiciliary Care Workers Included?

Domiciliary and home care workers are also covered by minimum wage legislation where they have worker or employee status and meet the relevant eligibility requirements.

Pay calculations can become more complicated where a worker travels between appointments, waits between clients, works overnight or completes mandatory work-related activities.

Simply quoting an hourly headline rate may therefore not show whether minimum wage requirements have been met across all working time.

Workers who believe their overall pay falls below the legal minimum should check their working-time records, payslips and employment contract rather than looking only at the advertised hourly rate.

Does the £12.71 Rate Apply to Care Workers Under 21?

Not necessarily.

The National Living Wage of £12.71 applies to workers aged 21 and over.

From April 2026, the statutory rate for workers aged 18 to 20 is £10.85 per hour, while the rate for eligible 16 and 17-year-olds is £8.00.

Some care providers choose to pay the same basic rate regardless of age, but they are not universally required to do so where the law permits the lower age-related minimum wage.

Is the Real Living Wage the Same as the National Living Wage?

No. The terms sound similar but refer to different systems.

The National Living Wage is the statutory government minimum for workers aged 21 and over. Employers must comply with it.

The Real Living Wage is a separate voluntary rate calculated by the Living Wage Foundation based on estimated living costs.

A care provider describing itself as a Living Wage employer may therefore pay more than the statutory minimum. Workers should check which definition an employer is using when comparing job advertisements.

Could Experienced Care Workers Also Receive Higher Pay?

This will depend on individual employers in the short term and the eventual Fair Pay Agreement in the longer term.

One of the problems identified in workforce data is pay compression. This happens when repeated minimum wage increases push entry-level salaries closer to rates paid to experienced or supervisory employees.

For example, if a new care worker moves from £12.21 to £12.71 while an experienced worker remains on £12.80, the difference between their hourly rates becomes extremely small.

Providers may therefore decide to increase higher pay bands even where legally they are not required to do so.

The future Fair Pay Agreement could also become important here because the government’s reforms are being developed alongside a wider Care Workforce Pathway, designed to create clearer career structures in adult social care.

What Should Care Workers Check on Their Payslips?

Anyone affected by the April 2026 increase should check their payslip and employment records carefully.

Important points include:

A headline rate of £12.71 does not necessarily prove that the employer has calculated minimum wage correctly if unpaid working time or deductions reduce the effective hourly rate.

Could There Be Another Care Worker Pay Rise in 2027?

There could be further changes before the Fair Pay Agreement arrives, but no future statutory rate should be treated as confirmed until the government announces it.

The National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage are normally reviewed annually following recommendations from the Low Pay Commission.

Separately, Fair Pay Agreement negotiations are expected to begin around April 2027, meaning 2027 is likely to be an important year for determining the structure and value of the first social-care-specific agreement.

These are two different processes:

Pay mechanism What it does Current position
National Living Wage Sets the legal minimum hourly wage £12.71 for age 21+ from April 2026
Employer pay review Employer can increase wages above minimum Varies by provider
Fair Pay Agreement Negotiates sector-wide adult social care standards Negotiations from around April 2027
First FPA settlement Introduces agreed sector terms Planned for April 2028

What Does This Mean for Care Workers Going Forward?

The care worker pay picture is changing in stages rather than through one single national pay award.

The first change has already happened. From 1 April 2026, the National Living Wage increased to £12.71 per hour, directly raising the statutory minimum for eligible care workers aged 21 and above.

That increase matters particularly in adult social care because Skills for Care estimated that nearly half of the independent-sector workforce was earning below the new rate shortly before it came into force.

The second and potentially more structural change is still ahead.

The new Adult Social Care Negotiating Body is intended to give employers and worker representatives a formal mechanism for negotiating pay and employment conditions. Negotiations are expected to begin in 2027, with the first Fair Pay Agreement planned for April 2028 and £500 million allocated towards its first year.

For now, care workers should distinguish between a confirmed 2026 minimum wage increase and a future sector-specific agreement whose exact pay rates have not yet been decided.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Care Workers Getting a Pay Rise in 2026?

Many are. The National Living Wage increased to £12.71 per hour from 1 April 2026 for eligible workers aged 21 and over.

How Much Is the Care Worker Pay Rise?

Workers moving directly from the previous £12.21 National Living Wage to £12.71 receive an increase of 50p per hour, or 4.1%.

Are All Care Workers Now Paid £12.71?

No. £12.71 is the statutory minimum for eligible workers aged 21 and over. Many employers pay above it, while different legal minimum rates apply to younger workers and qualifying apprentices.

When Does the Fair Pay Agreement Start?

The first adult social care Fair Pay Agreement is currently scheduled to take effect in April 2028, following negotiations expected to begin around April 2027.

Has the 2028 Care Worker Hourly Rate Been Confirmed?

No. The final pay rates have not yet been negotiated, so there is currently no confirmed national Fair Pay Agreement hourly rate for 2028.

Is the Government Spending £500 Million on Care Worker Pay?

The government has allocated £500 million for the first Fair Pay Agreement in 2028–29, intended to support increased costs arising from the agreement.

Does the Fair Pay Agreement Cover NHS Staff?

Generally not where employees are already covered by national arrangements such as NHS Agenda for Change. The adult social care agreement is a separate pay-setting system.

Are Unpaid Family Carers Included?

No. The Fair Pay Agreement applies to the paid adult social care workforce and does not cover unpaid careers.