Adult Social Care Fair Pay Agreement - How to Prepare Before 2028

The Fair Pay Agreement is a mechanism for sector-level collective bargaining, enabled by the Employment Rights Act 2025. Under this legislation, a new independent body- the Adult Social Care Negotiating Body (ASCNB)- will be established to bring together employer and trade union representatives to negotiate minimum pay rates, terms and conditions, and wider employment matters across the adult social care sector.

Once an agreement is reached and approved by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, it will carry the force of law and be applied to workers' contracts across the sector. As the Department of Health and Social Care confirmed, the FPA will introduce annual negotiations between employer and worker representatives to agree improvements to pay and conditions for the adult social care workforce for the first time.

Beyond pay, the ASCNB's remit is expected to be broad. According to the government's consultation response, the negotiating body will also have the ability to negotiate wider workforce issues, including training, career progression, people policies and employee benefits.

The government has set out a four-stage timetable for implementing the first FPA:

• By end of 2026: Secondary legislation formally establishes the ASCNB
• Early 2027: An independent chair is appointed to the ASCNB
• April 2027: The first round of negotiations begins
• April 2028: The first FPA takes effect and is applied to covered workers' contracts

This timeline is confirmed by the Royal College of Nursing, which notes that the £500 million of government funding attached to the agreement is earmarked for 2028–29.

It is important to understand that the FPA will not apply universally across all care workers. Council and NHS adult social care staff will be excluded from the new fair pay agreements, as they are already covered by existing national pay frameworks- Agenda for Change (AfC) and the National Joint Council for Local Government Services (NJC) respectively.

Instead, the annual deals determined by the ASCNB will be reserved for private and voluntary sector staff and personal assistants (PAs), who are employed directly by people with care and support needs via direct payments.

The Employment Rights Act describes those in scope broadly as people ‘employed wholly or mainly in, or in connection with, the provision of social care to individuals aged 18 or over in England,’ and it is proposed this will also cover agency and casual workers.

The DHSC has agreed to review the policy once three years of fair pay agreements have been carried out, meaning a review is anticipated around 2031.

The government has committed £500 million to support the first FPA in 2028–29, drawn from a larger £4 billion increase in funding for adult social care announced in the Spending Review. The funding is intended to improve recruitment and retention in a sector that employs around 1.5 million people.

However, questions have been raised about whether this level of investment is sufficient. Analysis by the Health Foundation suggests that if the £500 million were applied across the social care workforce and spent entirely on pay, it would equate to roughly 20p extra per hour per person-assuming a 30-hour working week.

The Local Government Association has also warned that with 1.6 million workers potentially in scope, even this amount may not be sufficient to cover an FPA in full, and could put further pressure on already stretched council budgets.

The Nuffield Trust has noted that the £500 million envelope would only cover approximately 20p extra per hour if applied across the social care workforce and spent entirely on pay- far from a transformative shift in sector pay levels. The exact impact will depend heavily on the outcome of negotiations.

To understand why the FPA has come about, it helps to look at the current state of the adult social care workforce. According to Skills for Care's 2025–26 report, the vacancy rate in England's adult social care sector fell to 6.2% in 2025/26 (its lowest level since 2015/16) equating to around 96,000 vacancies on any given day.

While this represents progress, the picture remains challenging, as the Care Quality Commission's State of Care report 2024/25 highlights, vacancy rates in adult social care remain around three times higher than those in the wider job market, and the situation is notably worse for homecare than for care homes.

The King's Fund also notes that vacancy rates in adult social care are considerably higher than in sectors such as retail (2.1%), education (1.7%) and manufacturing (2.1%).

The government's own impact assessment acknowledges that low pay and poor terms and conditions affect domestic recruitment and retention.
Alongside the FPA the government is expanding the Care Workforce Pathway, developed by the Department of Health and Social Care in partnership with Skills for Care, which is described as the first universal career structure for adult social care.

Part 3 of the Pathway, published in July 2026, adds ten new role categories, including care technologists and activity coordinators, and extends coverage to include care-adjacent roles such as catering, housekeeping and maintenance staff. The Pathway is designed to give care workers clearer routes to develop and progress their skills and expertise, including greater recognition for specialist skills and it is expected to be linked to the FPA's provisions on training and career development.

For independent providers, the FPA is likely to have tangible financial consequences, though the precise impact will depend on the outcome of negotiations. The government's impact assessment notes that most scenarios would be expected to result in greater labour costs for adult social care providers, and that these costs are likely to feed through to higher costs for local authorities commissioning services and for self-funders.

The Health Foundation has highlighted that while larger providers are likely to have greater financial resilience, 66% of providers employ fewer than 20 staff and may not be able to absorb rising costs without adequate additional funding and there are also likely to be administrative and compliance costs associated with implementing any new agreement.

On the other side of the ledger, there are potential savings to consider. Providers may be able to reduce reliance on agency staff- which is associated with higher costs- if improved pay and conditions lead to better retention. The government's stated aim is that the FPA will strengthen recruitment and retention and help build a stable, sustainable domestic workforce.

With April 2028 as the target date for the first agreement, organisations have time to prepare, but that window is narrowing. Here are some areas to consider:

• Review your current pay and conditions baseline-Understand where your workforce currently sits relative to likely FPA outcomes. While the exact pay floor has not yet been set, reviewing your current pay structure now will help you model potential cost increases.
• Model different financial scenarios-Given the uncertainty around what will be negotiated, it is worth modelling a range of scenarios- from modest pay uplifts to more significant increases - to understand the potential impact on your wage bill and overall financial position.
• Engage with the negotiating process-Employer representatives will have a seat at the table in the ASCNB. Staying informed about how employer representation will be structured- and engaging with your sector body- will help ensure your organisation's interests are reflected in negotiations.
• Review your workforce data-Accurate, up-to-date workforce data will be essential for compliance and planning. Understanding your workforce composition, including which roles will fall within the FPA's scope, is an important step.
• Plan for training and development investment-The FPA's remit is expected to include provisions on training and career development, linked to the Care Workforce Pathway. Organisations that are already investing in structured development programmes may be better placed to meet any new requirements.
• Engage with commissioners early-If your organisation is commissioned by local authorities, it is worth opening conversations now about how FPA-related cost increases will be reflected in future commissioning arrangements.

The Fair Pay Agreement represents a meaningful shift in how pay and conditions are set across adult social care in England. It reflects a broader recognition that the sector's workforce challenges, persistent vacancies, high turnover, and difficulties attracting domestic workers, are, at least in part, connected to pay and employment conditions.

Whether the FPA delivers on its ambitions will depend on the outcome of negotiations, the adequacy of funding, and how effectively the new negotiating body represents the full diversity of the sector. What is clear for now is that the direction of travel is set, and April 2028 will arrive sooner than many organisations expect.