What are paid care workers in England’s attitudes and considerations regarding organising?

In England, pay and working conditions in adult social care (ASC) employment are among the worst in the labour market. There are signs of positive reform through legislation being introduced by the Labour government elected in July 2024, but there are several obstacles to delivering meaningful change. With positive state-level policy slow to materialise, this article examines a dimension of paid care workers’ own efforts to bring about change, namely, their orientations towards organising. Levels of unionisation are comparatively low in ASC, and although effective union and non-union campaigns take place, the overall numbers and impact are limited. For organisations seeking to represent paid care workers to engage with them effectively, it is important to understand these workers’ views on organising for change. This article draws on an analysis of 45 interviews with paid care workers and key actors from organisations representing their interests, including unions and campaign groups. It presents findings regarding the dimensions of paid care work’s relational labour process and status. The analysis engages with scholarship on paid care workers’ wider work orientations and with the burgeoning literature on organising among paid care and domestic workers. By bringing together insights on paid ASC workers’ work orientations and their organising orientations in a novel way, it shows how paid care workers’ attachments to their relational work significantly shape orientations towards organising.