Millions of social care workers are to get annual NHS-style pay rises in a move that risks triggering further strikes.

A new negotiating body made up of trade unions and employers will negotiate pay rates, terms and conditions as part of a fair pay agreement.

The government is seeking to bring wages for the 1.5million carers in England more in line with health staff, who earn £7,000 more per year for equivalent roles.

Care minister Stephen Kinnock said the plans are a step towards a National Care Service, which was originally proposed by Andy Burnham when he was health secretary 17 years ago.

The new Adult Social Care Negotiating Body will be in place by the end of this year and will have powers to set statutory pay rates for all staff in the care sector, regardless of whether local authorities or private firms employ them.

The Royal College of Nursing welcomed the development and said nurses and others working in social care have previously struggled to secure fair pay without ‘collective bargaining structures to raise their voice’.

Annual pay deals have triggered industrial action by NHS staff in recent years, with doctors, nurses and ambulance crews among those walking out on strike.

Mr Kinnock told The i Paper that care workers ‘make such a vital contribution to our country and to our communities, and looking after our lives’, adding: ‘They’re just such a vital part of our workforce, and they deserve much better than they’ve had, and that is what this fair pay agreement is all about.’

Care minister Stephen Kinnock said care workers ‘deserve much better than they’ve had’.

He said there was a ‘long way to go’ for average care worker pay to have parity with NHS staff, but stressed: ‘We’ve got to work with what we’ve got, and slowly but surely, we absolutely want to have a National Care Service that works shoulder-to-shoulder with our National Health Service.’

The average pay for a care worker in England is currently £12.60 an hour, equivalent to £24,000-£25,000 a year.

The cost of adult social care accounts for 19 per cent of a local authority’s budget according to the government, and children’s social care 11 per cent.

According to the King’s Fund think tank, local authorities spent £34.5billion on social care in 2024/25, an increase of 4.1 per cent on the previous year.

However, poor pay in the sector has been blamed for contributing to staffing shortages and high staff turnover, which has contributed to the poor level of service.

Increasing wages could also push up fees in the private sector.

Care providers and workers, via their unions, will have voting rights on key issues including pay, terms and conditions as well as wider employment matters through a regular negotiation process.

It will be led by an independent chair, who will be appointed in early 2027, to oversee the negotiations between employer and worker representatives.

The first round of negotiations will start in April 2027, and the first agreed pay rates will be introduced by April 2028.

Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said: ‘For too long care workers have been undervalued and underpaid for their vital work.

‘The Fair Pay Agreement will help lift the floor of pay and conditions in the sector.’