Hope on the Horizon for Homecare in Huddersfield: A Positive Meeting with MP Harpreet Uppal

By Ashley John

Issue date: Friday 25th July 2025

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of meeting with Harpreet Uppal, the Member of Parliament for Huddersfield, to discuss the challenges faced by Bespoke Care and Support Services (BCSS) and other local homecare providers across Kirklees. I was genuinely surprised, and impressed, by how down-to-earth, personable, and engaged she was. A true Yorkshire lass, Harpreet listened attentively and spoke with real understanding about the realities of delivering personal care in our communities.

We talked candidly about the ongoing funding gap in the social care sector – a key factor affecting our ability to recruit and retain UK nationals in care roles. As a provider of private care in Huddersfield, we continue to be held back by local authority rates that fall significantly below the national benchmark for sustainable care delivery. While our current rate from Kirklees Council is £25.62 per hour, the Homecare Association’s recommended minimum is £32.14. This £6.52 shortfall per hour means we struggle to offer competitive pay, especially when retail and hospitality roles often offer the same or higher wages for less demanding work.

Another key point we discussed was that increased NHS funding doesn’t trickle down to the private social care sector. While hospitals may see investment and reform, providers like ours delivering critical care in people’s homes every day, continue to operate on the financial margins. Social care workers are the foundation of the health and social care system, yet they remain undervalued and underfunded. Harpreet agreed that Parliament urgently needs stronger representation for private social care, with advocates who understand the clear distinction between NHS and social care delivery and the very different funding and workforce challenges that come with it.

Harpreet showed a clear understanding of this issue, sharing that her own mother worked as a care worker for Kirklees Council and acknowledging that fair pay in our sector is long overdue. She pointed out that the Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, was also once a care worker, as is the Prime Minister’s sister, showing that social care is close to home for many in government.

What was particularly encouraging was Harpreet’s insight into the Labour Party’s current plans to revitalise adult social care. One promising initiative is the development of Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs). These aim to ensure that all care workers receive fair, sector-wide pay through legally binding agreements. The Department of Health and Social Care is working with unions and care sector representatives to shape a public consultation later this year, with legislation to follow through to 2027.

This initiative, aligned with Labour’s “Make Work Pay” agenda and the proposed Employment Rights Bill, signals a potential turning point for providers like us. For too long, we’ve absorbed the financial burden simply to deliver safe, ethical care – often redirecting funds that could have supported staff wellbeing into costly sponsorship and compliance fees just to keep our teams afloat.

Harpreet didn’t offer empty promises, she agreed wholeheartedly with what I had to say and acknowledged the need for urgent reform. There were no excuses, only a shared understanding that the current system is unsustainable.

At Bespoke Care and Support Services, we are proud to provide award-winning care in central Huddersfield and beyond. We believe that homecare in Huddersfield and Kirklees should be fairly funded, ethically delivered, and valued in the same way as our NHS counterparts. Nurses and doctors have rightly received their pay uplifts, so why not care workers?

This meeting left me feeling more hopeful than I have in a long time. Change may not happen overnight, but with champions like Harpreet in our corner, we are one step closer to the recognition, funding, and reform that our sector desperately needs.