Draft pay and progression framework for social care in Wales

About the framework

As part of our work to support opportunities for progression, we’re a member of the Social Care Fair Work Forum, a social partnership group committed to embedding fair work and improving terms and conditions for people working within the social care sector.

The forum has launched a new draft pay and progression framework for the social care workforce in Wales. The framework outlines five job bands for roles that support adults or children and young people, and explains the skills, values, knowledge, understanding, and typical tasks for each one. The framework doesn’t currently include expected pay scales, but it proposes a starting pay point, and full pay scales will follow.

The framework has been developed to meet the ambitions of Wales’s fair
work commitment and the workforce strategy for health and social care.
It aims to:

• provide a simplified framework for employers and employees
• improve recruitment and retention in social care
• provide a clear progression route for anyone thinking of joining, or already in, the sector
• support workforce development through continued improvement of skills and knowledge
• describe and standardise positive behaviours of social care workers
• provide a fair and transparent process for decisions about collective and individual salaries (at this stage in individual organisations).