Debate contribution: Domiciliary Care: Real Living Wage
Debate contribution by Mr Mike Nesbitt on .
- MLA
- Mr Mike Nesbitt
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 2 June 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Domiciliary Care: Real Living Wage
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5584275
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I fully acknowledge the essential role played by domiciliary and home care staff in supporting people to remain safely in their own homes and thus alleviating pressure on our acute services. Home care workers provide far more than just practical or personal care and support; they provide reassurance, continuity and human connection at moments of vulnerability. I remain fully committed to implementation of the real living wage for home care workers in recognition of the vital front-line role that they play in supporting vulnerable individuals to live independently at home. I am not in a position at this stage, however, to confirm a definitive timeline for implementation. That is due to my Department not yet having a confirmed budget settlement. We continue to face significant financial pressures, as I have already alluded to. Notwithstanding those constraints, I have made clear repeatedly that the real living wage remains a priority. It will be implemented at the earliest point that it becomes affordable. Importantly, once introduced, the uplift will be backdated to 1 April 2026, reflecting my commitment to that workforce.
179 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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