Union bosses in Wales have called for care workers in Wales to be moved to NHS-level rates of pay as soon as possible.

Powys is currently facing a severe shortage of care workers, particularly in rural areas, with voluntary organisations in the area describing the situation as a "crisis of care".

Public services union Unison has now called for Welsh government to establish a National Care Service for Wales and enact its manifesto commitment to pay all care workers the Foundation Living Wage of £9.50 per hour, and move to NHS-level rates of pay as soon as possible.

The union says the pandemic highlighted long-standing issues in the care industry, as well as covid related issues such as a lack of availability of testing and refusal from employers to pay sick pay when workers were isolating or had tested positive.

"The Covid pandemic revealed to everyone how hard care workers toil providing vital services for very little money. The public wants care workers to have a decent pay rise. The care sector is the poor relation of the National Health Service," said Mark Turner, UNISON Cymru Wales lead officer for care.

"The Welsh Government was elected on a manifesto commitment to boost the earnings of care workers. They need to do that now and present a plan how wages will increase further to the level of NHS staff."

Yesterday (September 8), the UK Government announced a 1.25% hike in national insurance contributions, a so-called Health and Social Care Levy, which it says will be ring-fenced to pay for improvements in health and social care delivery.

The Westminster government says it will work together with the devolved administration in Cardiff to "tackle treatment backlogs and improve care for the elderly".

A spokesperson for the Welsh Government said the UK Government announcement was "lacking in detail".

"We have set out ambitious plans for social care in this term, including paying social care staff a real living wage and offered to work with the UK government on this critical agenda," they said.

"While we support action at UK level to provide much-needed additional and long-term funding for social care, today’s announcement by the prime minister is severely lacking in detail."