Dawn Bowden, Welsh Labour’s Member of the Senedd for Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney, has welcomed the announcement from the Welsh Labour Government that thousands of social care staff who are eligible for the real living wage from April will receive an additional £1,000 net payment.

Welsh Labour’s Deputy Minister for Social Services, Julie Morgan MS, has announced a further investment of £96m to support staff, on top of the £43m to introduce the real living wage.

The additional payment, which will be made to some 53,000 people, comes amid the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades.

Welcoming the additional payment, Dawn Bowden MS said:

“Welsh Labour knows the importance of investing in our NHS and Social Care Services. 

“We’ve all seen the hard work that our social care workers do – in our care homes and our communities. Day in day out they tirelessly look after some of our vulnerable family members and friends with dignity and care.

“I’m delighted that the Welsh Labour Government has been able to deliver one of our key manifesto pledges of awarding the real living wage to social care staff in the first year of Government, and I’m pleased that they’ll also be given an additional £1,000 payment at a time when we are facing a cost-of-living crisis.”

The £96m investment for the additional payment is on top of the £43.2m that was announced in December to ensure social care workers receive the real living wage in 2022-23. Around 53,000 social care workers will be eligible for the additional payment.

The additional payment, which is aligned to the introduction of the real living wage, will be £1,498 before deductions for tax and national insurance. Care workers on basic rate of income tax can expect to receive £1,000 after deductions.

The Welsh Government expects that the additional payment and the real living wage will be processed in people’s pay from April to June, due to the complexity of the care sector and the large number of employers involved. The additional payment will be available as a single payment or monthly instalments.

The Welsh Government is also funding a national recruitment campaign and is taking steps to professionalise the sector and improve career progression opportunities.