Seizing the opportunity
The treatment of our social care workforce is a national scandal. England’s 1.6 million care workers suffer from endemic low pay and poor conditions, with almost half of care workers paid below the real living wage, and many earning below the legal minimum wage when travel time is taken into account. There are few opportunities for progression, with senior care workers earning just £3 per shift more than care workers. A third of the workforce have received no training for their role; three in ten care workers are on zero-hours contracts, nine times the average for the economy as a whole; and few care workers receive more than the legal minimum in terms of sick pay or pensions.
The government is currently legislating for a fair pay agreement in the sector. In this report, Fabian Society general secretary Joe Dromey and research manager Ben Cooper makes the case for an ambitious and fully funded fair pay agreement in order to improve pay and conditions, tackle the workforce crisis, and improve the quality of care.
In the Fast Lane
22 April 2025
Alex Mayer MP makes the case that improving our bus network is crucial to fulfilling Labour’s growth mission.
In the Fast Lane Transport
Mature Decisions
17 January 2025
Senior researcher Sasjkia Otto explores options for pensioner social security reform, in the near and longer term, for consideration as part of the government’s pensions review.
Mature decisions PensionsJoin the Fabian Society
Join the Fabians today and help shape the future of the left
Join the Fabian Society
The Fabian Review
This edition of the Fabian Review focuses on the turbulent political landscape of Europe, featuring Caroline Gray, Matthias Dilling, Luke John Davies, Emma Fastesson Lindgren, and Judith Kirton-Darling. In conversation with Iggy Wood, Liam Byrne discusses inequality, populism, and sci-fi. Elsewhere, Paul Mason and Margaret Pinder discuss Labour's defence plans.
Latest from the Fabian Society
View All
Off target
20 May 2025
PEYMANA ASSAD: A sporting boycott of Afghanistan would stifle a symbol of resistance to Taliban rule
Continue reading Foreign policy / Race
Last bastion
14 May 2025
CAROLINE GRAY: The Spanish government faces very different challenges to Labour - but it may still have some things to teach Keir Starmer
Continue reading Elections / European Union
Wrong turn
12 May 2025
MATTHIAS DILLING: Despite heavy losses in the 2025 snap election, a rightward shift on migration would be disastrous for the SPD
Continue reading Immigration / European Union
Foundational problems
9 May 2025
DARREN PAFFEY MP: The cladding crisis has highlighted deeper issues with our approach to housing and property
Continue reading
Absolutely positive
7 May 2025
Liam Byrne is a man on a mission – or several. He talks to IGGY WOOD about inequality, populism, and sci-fi – and convinces him that it’s all going to be alright
Continue reading Populism / Inequality
Long overdue
6 May 2025
NAUSHABAH KHAN MP: A holistic approach is needed to fix the private rented sector
Continue reading HousingOur publications
View All
When I'm 64
Fabian Society senior researcher Sasjkia Otto looks at the roots of pre-retirement poverty and presents a strategy to address it.
Read more
Caring for Carers
Fabian Society researcher Eloise Sacares and general secretary Andrew Harrop present a series of policy options for the employment and financial protections of unpaid carers.
Read more
Climbing the Mountain
This report identifies 150 non-Labour seats on the new boundaries which will likely make up a very high proportion of the constituencies that Labour will target at the next election.
Read more
Equal Footing
Anneliese Dodds MP explains how Labour's ambitious agenda to tackle inequality will benefit us all.
Read more
Whatever the Weather
Fabian Society researcher Eloise Sacares makes the case for climate adaptation, identifying three key areas of life which will be severely impacted by climate change and in which practical changes in government policy could make a significant differe...
Read more
The Final Furlong
In spite of Labour's extremely strong polling numbers over the past year, there has been continuing media speculation about a hung parliament. The Fabian Society undertook research during summer 2023 to understand voters’ preferred election outcomes...
Read more
By the People, With the People
In this pamphlet, Charlotte Augst and Paul Corrigan set out to identify the factors that have scuppered progress on health system reform, and refine the calls for change into two simple questions. First, how can the NHS work with people to keep them ...
Read more
In Tandem
Michael Jacobs, Robert Calvert Jump, Jo Michell and Frank van Lerven scrutinise the lack of cooperation between the UK government and the Bank of England, and propose a new Economic Policy Coordinating Committee to help achieve the multiple objective...
Read more
Working Nein to Five
Fabian Society senior researcher Sasjkia Otto asks what we can learn from Germany about work-life balance.
Read more
Equality and empowerment
Fabian Society research director Luke Raikes sets out to make a progressive case for devolving public spending, raising important questions about how public money can be used more effectively to deliver policy objectives.
Read more
Plans for Power
This pamphlet is a compilation of some of the most important ideas developed and championed by the Fabian Society in recent years. It is a ‘mixtape’ of the best proposals, from early years to pensions and from the future of work to public service ref...
Read more
A good life in all regions
The report of the Fabian Society's Commission on Regional Poverty and Inequality concludes that the UK has two major regional economy challenges – ‘low growth’ outside the south east, where places lack good jobs; and ‘overheating’ in the capital, whe...
Read more
Lawful and fair
In this pamphlet, Will Somerville and Sarah Mulley set out robust proposals to reform our migration system. They argue that it must be based on sound principles: it must be fair, it must be grounded in democratic consent, and it must respect people’s...
Read more
Support guaranteed
Plans for a National Care Service for England were first presented 13 years ago in the dying days of the last Labour government. Since then no detailed work has taken place to flesh out what the service might look like or how it should be implemented...
Read more
Britain Reconnected
In this publication, David Lammy MP identifies the major geopolitical trends that will shape the UK's place in the world, and sets out the next Labour government’s approach to foreign policy
Read moreFabian membership
Join the Fabian Society today and help shape the future of the left
You’ll receive the quarterly Fabian Review and at least four reports or pamphlets each year sent to your door
Be a part of the debate at Fabian conferences and events and join one of our network of local Fabian societies
Join the Fabian SocietyBe the first to know
Sign up to the free Fabian Society newsletter
Find out about the latest Fabian Society research, publications and events with our regular updates
Sign up today