The timeline so far
If you work in care — or you're training towards it — this is the biggest structural change to how the sector sets pay in decades. Here is everything that has actually been confirmed, with dates, and what is still genuinely unknown.
| Date | Milestone | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Employment Rights Act 2025 becomes law — creates the legal power to establish Fair Pay Agreements in adult social care in England (with equivalent powers for Scottish and Welsh ministers covering adult and children's social care) | Done |
| 16 January 2026 | Government consultation on the FPA process closes — 1,221 responses received across the two consultation exercises | Done |
| April 2026 | First Employment Rights Act changes begin landing sector-wide (e.g. statutory sick pay reforms) — separate from the FPA but part of the same Act | Done |
| July 2026 | Government publishes its consultation response and announces the Adult Social Care Negotiating Body, backed by £500 million | Done |
| October 2026 | Next ERA milestone: unfair dismissal qualifying period reduces to 6 months | Scheduled |
| TBC | Negotiating Body negotiates the first Fair Pay Agreement (pay, terms and conditions, wider employment matters) | Not started publicly |
| TBC | Agreement ratified — only then do terms become legally enforceable through workers' contracts, with pay provisions enforced by the Fair Work Agency | No date announced |
What the Negotiating Body is
- Who sits on it: trade unions and employers, with an independent chair, operating at arm's length from ministers.
- What it negotiates: pay, terms and conditions, and wider employment matters for adult social care workers in England.
- Who it covers: the independent-sector care workforce — roughly 1.5 million people work in adult social care. Care staff directly employed by councils stay in the existing NJC "Green Book" collective bargaining process, as the Local Government Association confirmed in July 2026.
- How it becomes law: a negotiated agreement must be ratified; after ratification its terms are written into workers' contracts and the pay provisions are enforced by the Fair Work Agency. Implementation guidance will come jointly from the Department of Health and Social Care and the Negotiating Body.
Why it matters: where care pay stands today
The FPA lands in a sector where pay progression has almost vanished. The National Living Wage floor — £12.71/hour from 1 April 2026 — has overtaken the independent-sector care worker median of £12.60/hour (Skills for Care, December 2025 data). Five-plus years of experience currently earns a care worker just 10p/hour more than a new starter. See our full breakdown of how much a care worker earns and how NHS pay bands compare.
That compression is exactly what a sector-wide agreement is designed to address — and why qualifications are likely to matter more, not less, under a negotiated pay structure that has to differentiate roles and responsibility.
What this means if you're building a care career
Nothing about the FPA changes what employers can pay today — but a ratified agreement would make negotiated minimums legally enforceable, and every comparable national pay structure (NHS Agenda for Change, council NJC scales) ties pay bands to role and qualification level:
Entry route: the Care Certificate is the recognised induction standard — see becoming an adult care worker.
Senior/lead roles: the Level 3 Diploma in Adult Care is the standard senior care worker qualification.
Management: the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Adult Care is the registered-manager route.
Compare sectors with our salary explorer or browse all health & social care qualifications.
What is still unknown (honestly)
- Who chairs the Negotiating Body — not announced at the time of writing (1 October 2026).
- When negotiations begin and conclude — no public schedule.
- When the first FPA pay rates take effect — no date announced; nothing is enforceable until ratification.
- What the rates will be — the £500 million is backing for the agreement, not a published pay scale.
We'll update this page as each milestone lands. Last verified: 1 October 2026.