MOST Brits think that austerity-hit care workers should be paid the same as pharmacy assistants and some other NHS staff, a new poll reveals today.

Some 80 per cent believe social care is “as important or deserves the same respect” as the health service, while two-thirds want care staff to get the same wages as NHS band-three workers, research from learning disabilities and autism charity Dimensions UK shows.

Band-three roles include emergency care assistants, occupational therapy support workers and pharmacy assistants, who receive salaries of between £21,000 and £23,000, depending on experience.

The charity, which consulted 2,001 adults across Britain last month, has launched a petition calling for minimum care worker pay to be aligned with the band-three rate.

In recent years, “sales assistants have been better paid than social care workers and many skilled care and support workers are moving to better-paid roles in other jobs amid the rising cost of living,” it warned.

Most staff across the sector are employed by private-sector providers, but in a 2022 report the cross-party health and social care committee said that better wages and working conditions “will not be possible without an increase in government funding.”

Dimensions UK chief executive Rachael Dodgson blasted the cash shortage as a “betrayal of the hard-working, skilled individuals who were on the front line of the [Covid-19] pandemic and continue to provide essential care and support for older and disabled people.”

While increasing salaries is not a “silver bullet, it is a critical first step and will make a measurable difference to current workforce challenges,” she said.

The petition can be signed here.