HOME care workers are suffering a “mounting mental health toll” after tens of thousands of workers quit in frustration at poverty pay and exploitation at the hands of profit-driven privateers.

Public service union Unison says that more than two-thirds of home care workers have reported declining mental health in a survey.

The social care sector is short of 170,000 workers, meaning those who are still in the industry have to soak up extra work.

Unison says that staffing problems are likely to become more acute as thousands of care workers leave their jobs because of new compulsory vaccine rules.

The union’s general secretary Christina McAnea said: “Despite the Prime Minister’s promise to fix social care, there is still no plan. 

“With the sector facing the abyss, thousands of staff down with others leaving all the time, more must be done to support those care workers that remain in post.”

She said that government intervention was needed “now, not at some unknown point in the future.”