Paid care worker organising in England: priorities and progress?

Duncan Uist Fisher ^* Liam Foster

• The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom

Despite its growth and ubiquity, paid adult social care (ASC) work in England persists as a site of very low pay, insecurity, and exploitation, where 'decent work' remains elusive. Promoted by a neoliberal agenda focusing on competition and choice, social care provision has developed a quasi-market model. This involves local authorities assessing and commissioning predominantly independent sector providers to deliver care, which relies on outsourcing and contributes to workforce fragmentation. This atomisation, with thousands of providers and many workers employed to support people in their own homes, contrasts with the terrain of more established trade unionism and impedes organising. Thus far in the English context, however, this phenomenon has received only limited attention in academic research. These challenges within the sector and limited organising mean that it is important to understand priorities and progress in relation to ASC organising. Thirty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted with key actors (organisers, administrators, founders) and paid direct care workers involved in organising in the ASC context in England. Data were examined using thematic analysis. The results identify four groupings where paid ASC workers and their representatives seek change: Pay and conditions; Systemic/structural change; Awarenessraising and being heard; and Environment and practices. The discussion assesses the implications of these findings for ASC worker organising and prospects for change. It contends that there remain significant barriers both to meaningful change in the situation of paid care workers, and to care worker organising playing a greater or more prominent role in driving change. Concluding reflections consider what the issues identified in care worker organising reveal about the relative status of care work and the circumstances of care workers, and paid care work's position in contemporary neoliberal capitalism.