Your chance to have a say in how your pay is negotiated
The UK Labour Government’s new Employment Rights Act is coming into force right now and delivers lots of positive changes for workers like you.
One important change is the new Social Care Negotiating Body (SCNB) for Wales, which is the place that your union will sit down with representatives of your employer to collectively negotiate for Fair Pay Agreements. This should bring better pay, better conditions and a better future for social care workers. This is a process known as sectoral collective bargaining.
The Welsh Government is currently consulting on the detail of what the SCNB will look like, how it should work, and then what it should do in its first year. You can read their proposals on the Welsh Government website.
UNISON as an organisation has prepared a consultation response, which is based on the democratically agreed policy positions taken by members.
You can be sure that your employer will be making their voices heard loud and clear as part of the consultation process. But you can have a say too by completing the consultation response form.
The more individual care workers like you respond to this consultation and participate in the process once the SCNB is set up, the stronger your collective voice will be and the more you will win together.
You can complete the response form online.
The deadline is 28 April 2026.
It may take you a while to complete the form, and you don’t have to do it in one go. You can save a draft as you go through the form.
UNISON positions on this consultation are set out below to help you, but you should share your own views, thoughts and experience.
By following this guide, you can join with those calling for a strong, independent SCNB that has the power to make the changes you need as a worker.
| Question | UNISON’s Response | Reason |
| 23 | A more formal Non-departmental Public Body | The SCNB should be a core part of the Welsh Government’s work and should be given the authority and status of a formal non-departmental public body. |
| 24 | Option 2 | Collective bargaining can only be conducted by the independent trade unions like UNISON whose members work in the sector. |
| 25 | neither agree nor disagree | It is for the employers to decide who represents them around the negotiating table. |
| 26 | Option 2 | In collective bargaining, the only people who should get to vote on the Fair Pay Agreement are workers through their unions and employers in the sector. |
| 27 | Yes | The Welsh Government should have an advisory role without voting rights on the SCNB |
| 28 | No | Only worker and employer representatives should be members of the SCNB. |
| 29 & 30 | UNISON believes that people who pay for their own care and NHS commissioners are customers of the care sector employers and should have their views captured as part of evidence gathering by the SCNB | |
| 31 | Yes | Members of the SCNB, particularly the independent chair, should not have financial links to the private social care industry and should abide by the Nolan principles of standards in public life. |
| 32 | Yes | Without the support pf professional civil servants, the SCNB will not be able to function properly. |
| 33 | UNISON has reminded the Welsh Government that previous pay agreements, such as when the Welsh Government provided the funding for all social care workers in Wales to receive the Real Living Wage, this did not guarantee that the money made it into the pay packets of workers. | |
| 34 | UNISON is concerned that a “remit letter” should not be binding upon the SCNB and that workers through their unions should be free to bring any issue to the negotiating table. This is what collective bargaining is all about | |
| 35 | Disagree | Welsh Government proposals say that negotiations should be within the parameters set by the remit letter. UNISON believes that workers through their unions should be free to bring any issue to the negotiating table. |
| 41 | Yes | SCNB is for the people who work for third sector and private sector care providers. Social care workers employed by local authorities and the NHS have their own established ways of agreeing pay and conditions. |
| 42 | No | We are encouraged that Personal Assistants are included in the list of workers to be covered by SCNB |
| 43 | This is optional. You may have your own answer to this question from your own personal experience. | |
| 44-45 | Neither agree nor disagree | We need to be flexible. For the time being Local Government and NHS employed care workers currently have better pay and other ways of negotiating. But this might change in the future. |
| 49-55 | These are important questions about your own preferences and priorities. Please answer from your own knowledge and experience working in the sector, and from the conversations you have at work with your colleagues. | |
| 61 | This is an important opportunity for you to share your own experiences | |
| 62 | Yes | SCNB will have a positive impact on people based on their sex and their race because women and people from Black and minority backgrounds are disproportionately employed in social care. |
| 63 | No | SCNB should increase equality for all groups. You may have your own perspectives from your own personal experience |
| 64 & 65 | Please answer these questions from your own perspective. | |
| 66 | This is an opportunity for you to share any other issues that this consultation or the SCNB raises. | |
| Submit | You may wish to be caution about agreeing to have your name published as your employer may be able to identify you. | |
