LABOUR demanded today that Boris Johnson finally publish his promised plan to fix social care, which should include a pay guarantee of at least the real living wage for all care workers.

On his first day in office, the Prime Minister promised to fix the crisis in social care with a plan he said he had already prepared. But now it will not be published until next year.

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said it was “unconscionable” and a “moral outrage” that the average wage for a care worker is £8.10 an hour while half of care workers do not earn the real living wage which is at least £9.30, and £10.75 in London.

She said it is “appalling” that many low-paid care workers also do not receive statutory sick pay of £94.25 a week, and that the situation has not changed in the pandemic.

Ms Rayner condemned it as a “disgrace” that Mr Johnson “demeaned the office of Prime Minister by attempting to blame care workers for the spread of coronavirus in our care homes.”

She continued: “It is his failure and incompetence that has resulted in 15,000 deaths in our care homes due to coronavirus.”

Ms Rayner was a home-visit care worker, a shop steward and union official before becoming an MP. 

She opened the party’s online conference Labour Connected over the weekend by paying tribute to the “key worker heroes” who have worked on the front line during the pandemic.

She said: “The Prime Minister and government ministers have fallen over themselves to clap for our carers and offer them warm words, but applause and empty gestures don’t pay the rent or put the food on the table.

“We can’t clap our key workers and then abandon them. We can’t go back to business as usual, where the very same people who have helped to get our country through this crisis are still underpaid and undervalued.

“After all their sacrifice and bravery, the very least that our care workers deserve is a pay rise.”

Unison assistant general secretary Roger McKenzie said that Labour is right to call for a real living wage for care workers.

He told the Morning Star: “These workers, mainly women and many migrant workers have been struggling to keep a roof over their heads for far too long.

“Of course, the very best way for them to secure at least a living wage is to join Unison and for the care service to be taken out of private hands and brought back into public control.”