Social workers split on standardising pay across agencies %

Social workers are divided on whether pay should be standardised across local authorities, Cafcass and the NHS, a poll has found.

This follows Napo, the main union representing staff at Cafcass, rejecting the family court body’s 2025-26 pay offer, which involves a 3.06% rise for all practitioners.

The proposed across-the-board increase is lower than the 3.2% awarded to local authority social workers in England and Wales and the 3.6% given to NHS practitioners earlier this year. It is also below the rate of inflation, which was 3.6% in the 12 months to October 2025.

Social workers’ view on pay standardisation

Diverging annual pay hikes across statutory services is a longstanding issue in social work.

Annual pay settlements for the majority of council practitioners in England have been higher than those for Cafcass counterparts over most of the past decade.

Meanwhile, the Local Government Association warned in 2024 that councils were losing social workers to the NHS due to less competitive salaries.

However, a recent Community Care poll of close to 900 respondents found opinion to be split on standardising pay across statutory services.

While 40% agreed, arguing that pracitioners should not be paid differently for carrying out similar duties, a similar proportion (40.5%) rejected the idea, on the grounds that roles across the different agencies were not comparable.

A further 19.5% thought standardisation was good in principle, but cautioned that such a system would be very difficult to implement.

Social work pay negotiation differences

The divergences in pay between agencies reflects the fact that salaries are set by different bodies.

The National Joint Council for Local Government Services negotiates terms and conditions for staff in most - though not all - local authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with annual pay settlements negotiated between employers and unions.

NHS staff are covered by Agenda for Change contracts, with pay rises set by UK government (for England), the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive, following advice from the NHS Pay Review Body.

Cafcass’s pay is shaped by civil service policy, which for 2025-26 limited increases in each government department's pay bill to 3.25%, with an additional 0.5% available for specific workforce issues, such as low pay. This includes the Ministry of Justice, which oversees Cafcass.

Fair pay agreements for adult social care

Meanwhile, the Employment Rights Bill allows for the creation of negotiating bodies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to set fair pay agreements for adult social care staff in each country.

The UK government is currently consulting on how the English negotiating body will work. It has suggested excluding council and NHS adult social care staff, including social workers, on the grounds that these groups are already covered by existing agreements, and that resources to support implementation of the new system are limited.

You can respond to the consultation, which closes on 16 January 2026, by answering this online survey.