Nearly half of England’s care workers get less than real living wage, study finds

Job vacancy rates in the social care sector are running at about 10%. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Nearly half of all care workers in England earn less than a real living wage, according to research.

Analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) for the Living Wage Foundation found that 400,000 workers in social care (43% of the workforce) in England are paid less than £12 an hour, the amount required to cover living costs. In London the picture is even starker, with 80% of care workers paid less than £13.15, the London living wage.