I welcome the direction in policy that has taken place in recent years in terms of professionalisation of the social care workforce and recognition of the vital work they can do, but this absolutely must be backed up by appropriate resources, giving care workers salaries that reflect the importance of their vocation. Otherwise, staff could end up moving fairly seamlessly into nursing, because the wages are so much higher there, and then the shortage of social care staff will simply be exacerbated.

It is a positive intervention that the domiciliary care workforce must now register with Social Care Wales, that they must meet criteria in terms of qualifications: qualifications that mean that we recognise caring for what it is, a highly skilled vocation of singular importance to our communities. I think it's fair to say that these care workers are highly skilled, but all too often their skills are not recognised or formally valued. Taking this forward, there are challenges in the different pay and terms and conditions between the private and public sectors. For example, a private sector care worker earns on average £2 an hour less than their local authority counterparts.

There can be challenges around negotiation with the private sector. I was a little shocked to learn that there are over 25,000 registered providers of private social care in the UK. As the Finance Committee reminded us last year, there are also challenges in that a high proportion of staff are ageing, and there is a reliance on staff from abroad. I would like to see further measures to professionalise the workforce, with any increase in funding allocated to this end. This must be linked to greater recognition of the important role that carers carry out to stop the 33 per cent turnover rate. Welsh Government interventions, such as ending compulsory zero-hours contracts and ensuring pay for travel time, are not just key to achieving this, they are also morally right and fair.

I'd like to see work undertaken to ensure parity of esteem between private and public sector, but also between the social care workforce and those involved in related sectors like healthcare, reminding care workers of the rights to which they are entitled. It's only fair that we give these workers their due. In doing so I hope we will enable social care to be seen as an attractive career option. This will encourage new recruits to join, give them the support they need to become experienced members of staff, and make sure they stay in the sector for the long term.

The last challenge I want to consider is how we appropriately support unpaid carers. Some 96 per cent of care is provided by unpaid carers. Carers Wales's 'State of Caring' profile provides an important insight in this area. Drawing on their 2018 work, some key findings stand out. This is a gender issue: more carers identified as women than men. Nearly one in three carers are themselves disabled. Nearly one in four have childcare responsibilities. Nearly a third are working, of whom nearly half work full time. Some 56 per cent care for more than 90 hours a week. One in four carers care for two or more people.

Research published by Carers UK on Carers Rights Day provides a further key to the scale of the issue. The average person in Wales will have a 50:50 chance of caring by the age of 45, long before retirement age. And in Wales, women will care by the age of 42. Caring during our working lives is becoming more and more likely as people live longer and need more help with their day-to-day lives. Women taking on more of a caring role and at a younger age can limit their economic participation, their lifetime earnings, and their income in later life. 

The challenge is emphasised when we remember that someone living in Wales has a 70 per cent likelihood of providing unpaid care to another person. That is the highest rate in the UK. We know that the contribution of unpaid carers is literally priceless. If it were not, there would be an additional cost to public finances of some £8 billion. But the dichotomy between providing full-time care and needing to work can cause painful dilemmas. I've dealt with constituents who've needed to give up work to care for loved ones. The recompense provided by the carer's allowance does not go nearly far enough to meeting need. There is some support out there, and I welcome the practical assistance enshrined in the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014. But there are still other barriers that we need to overcome.

The purpose of my debate was to look at some of the challenges we face to try to sketch out some of the solutions. A short debate can never provide all the answers, but as I close, I want to at least finish by saying 'Thank you' to all who provide such vital care day in, day out.