Wales Seeks Views on New Negotiating Body to Deliver Fair Pay Agreements for Social Care Workforce
The Welsh Government has launched an important consultation seeking views on proposals to establish a Social Care Negotiating Body (SCNB) that would have the legal authority to negotiate Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs) for the social care workforce in Wales.
The move is described by ministers as a significant step towards improved pay fairness and employment conditions in a sector long challenged by low wages and recruitment pressures.
The consultation, which opened on 24 February 2026, invites organisations, care providers and frontline workers to contribute their views on the structure, remit, and functions of the proposed negotiating body. Responses must be submitted by 28 April 2026.
Under the provisions of the Employment Rights Act 2025, Welsh Ministers would have powers to set out a process for reaching legally enforceable FPAs. These agreements would set minimum standards for pay, terms and conditions for the social care workforce across Wales. The consultation is not seeking views on specific pay levels or contract terms at this stage; rather, it focuses on how the SCNB should operate and be governed.
In seeking views on the proposed SCNB, the Welsh Government emphasises the need for a collaborative negotiating body that brings together representatives of trade unions and employers. The intention is that once established, the SCNB would negotiate agreements that, once ratified, would apply across the sector and cover all workers within its scope, irrespective of union membership.
The consultation invites stakeholders to comment on a range of key issues including:
• The composition and governance of the SCNB
• Negotiation processes and how agreements will be reached
• Coverage and remit, including which roles and sectors should be included under future agreements
• Dispute resolution mechanisms
• Implementation and enforcement of negotiated agreements once agreed
Officials note that the SCNB will build on the existing foundations of social partnership in Wales, including the Social Care Fair Work Forum and associated workforce partnerships, which have already sought to embed fair work principles in the sector.
In the consultation literature, ministers underline that Wales’s social care workforce plays a vital role in supporting people’s independence, wellbeing and dignity. Yet pay and employment conditions remain inconsistent across the sector, and the consultation foreword states that a Fair Pay Agreement offers “a practical and principled approach to addressing these longstanding challenges.”
The SCNB is intended to provide a formal negotiating forum, bringing together employer and trade union representatives to build consensus around market-wide pay and terms. Ministers have stressed that this mechanism would not engage with individual pay rates at this stage; rather, it would establish the negotiating framework and structures that underpin future collective bargaining outcomes.
Stakeholders in Wales’s social care sector have been encouraged to take part in the consultation, which represents a rare opportunity for providers, workforce leaders and staff to influence how national pay and employment negotiations could be conducted in future.
Once the consultation closes in April, officials will analyse responses and draft secondary legislation to formally establish the SCNB and its operating procedures. The body would then commence negotiation work on fair pay agreements that aim to deliver legally enforceable standards across Wales’s social care workforce.
