Fair Pay Agreement for social care: timeline

The law

Part 3, Chapter 2 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 (sections 39 to 55) covers social care workers. Section 39 gives the power to establish a Social Care Negotiating Body. Later sections cover its membership, its remit, what happens if the two sides cannot agree, and how ministers ratify an agreement. The Act received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025. It creates the powers; the body itself still has to be set up by regulations.

What the government decided in July 2026

DHSC consulted from 30 September 2025 and published its response on 16 July 2026. The main decisions:

Scope: England only. Scotland and Wales have their own powers.
Who is covered: a broad group of social care workers. Self-employed workers and informal care arrangements fall outside the legal definition. Staff employed directly by councils (NJC terms) or the NHS (Agenda for Change) are excluded for now, with a review after three years. Unpaid carers are not covered.
Who negotiates: equal numbers of worker and employer seats. The TUC coordinates the worker side (with UNISON, GMB, Unite and the Royal College of Nursing). The Care Provider Alliance coordinates the employer side. Councils have a non-voting role and give evidence on affordability. An independent chair leads the body.
What it covers: pay and terms and conditions, plus wider matters such as training and progression. The first round is likely to focus on pay and terms.
How it works: the Secretary of State sets priorities and a funding envelope each year, followed by six months of negotiation from April. If no deal is reached, the Secretary of State can decide pay and terms. A ratified agreement becomes enforceable through workers' contracts, and the Fair Work Agency enforces pay terms.
Money: £500 million for the first agreement (2028 to 2029), paid through the local government finance settlement. It is not ring-fenced.

The timeline

2026: the government said it would lay regulations and set up the body "by the end of the year".
Early 2027: independent chair appointed.
April 2027: first negotiations begin.
April 2028: first agreement takes effect.

We could not confirm today (27 October 2026) that the regulations have been laid.

What has been added since

DHSC's social care blog (9 October 2026) reports further plans announced by the Health Secretary. These include a workforce action plan bringing together measures on pay, terms and conditions, and work towards a national collective pension scheme for care workers. Both are at an early stage, with no publication or launch dates.

What this means across settings

The agreement is meant to cover the independent sector broadly, so residential, nursing, home care, supported living, learning disability and mental health services are all likely to be affected. A nursing home with registered nurses will want to watch how nurse pay is handled: the RCN sits on the worker side.

What this means for your service

Nothing changes in your contracts yet. No agreement can take effect before April 2028.
Model the cost early. Use your own payroll data to see what a higher pay floor would mean. The £500 million is not ring-fenced, so how much reaches your fees will depend on your councils.
Get your voice heard through your association. The employer side is coordinated by the Care Provider Alliance.
Tidy your pay records now. An enforceable agreement means pay terms will be checked by the Fair Work Agency.
Don't confuse this with the minimum wage. The National Living Wage still applies and rises separately each April.

This is general information, not legal advice.