From April 1st 2025, thousands of carers across the UK will benefit from an increase in the National Living Wage (NLW). The minimum hourly pay for everyone 21 and older is increasing from £11.44 to £12.21 per hour, representing a 6.7% increase. More details on the National Living Wage can be found on the official Government website.
What Does This Mean For Take-Home Pay?
A rise of 6.7% is significantly above the UK’s 2.8% inflation rate. This should help carers find it a little easier to pay for fuel, household bills, and groceries. An increase of this size represents a real-terms increase that gives carers greater spending power.
Why Is The NLW Rising?
The idea is to improve the standard of living of those on the National Living Wage by giving them more to spend. While some economists have argued that large increases in minimum wages are inflationary, the reality is that the government is actively looking to help those on low incomes. This includes over 150,000 care workers who were on the NLW when a study was completed by Skills for Care in April 2024.
How Do You Claim The New NLW?
If you are already in paid employment as a carer, this will happen automatically and you will not need to do anything. From the 1st of April, you will see your pay increase by 6.7%, which will equate to approximately an extra £1,400 a year of tax-free income if you work full-time.
PA & Carers Insurance
Cover available for:
- Self-Employed Carers & PAs
- Individual Employers
- Carer & PA Businesses
- Direct Payments
- Domiciliary Carers
- Home Employment Cover (for those that employ carers in their home)
Who Is Funding The NLW Increase?
Employers and the branches of government that provide grants for social care initiatives will be legally obligated to fund the NLW increase. While this is good news for hard-working carers, there has been criticism in some quarters, given the economic landscape in the UK as a whole.
Social Care Sector Criticism
A combination of an increase in national insurance contributions (NICs) and the NLW has led to harsh criticism from some parts of the social care sector. Nadra Ahmed, executive co-chair of the National Care Association, spoke to the Guardian recently:
“People may close their services, they may sell up to another provider, they may reduce the number of packages they take.
“I suspect that in about six months, we’ll start to see a seismic change.”
It will be very important to see how the sector rebounds from what some predict will be a challenging time.
In the meantime, we actively encourage all carers in the UK to take out PA & Carers Insurance. Cover is available from as little as £59 per year and is there to help:
- Self-Employed Carers & PAs
- Individual Employers
- Carer & PA Businesses
- Direct Payments
- Domiciliary Carers
- Home Employment Cover (for those that employ carers in their home)
