Aria Care Home, a 28-bed dementia care home in Newport, has today announced that its minimum rate of pay has officially risen to £15.50 per hour, making its care team the highest paid in Wales and amongst the highest paid in the UK care sector.
This milestone comes off the back of a 30% pay increase in 2023, which saw Aria intentionally distance itself from the Real Living Wage and set a new benchmark for pay in the care industry. Since then, that lead has not only been maintained but extended year-on-year.
“For years where I’d sit with payroll in front of me and feel sick. I knew the people showing up every day, caring with their whole hearts, weren’t being paid what they should’ve for the work they did. It made me feel like I was failing them.
Hitting £15.50 feels like a glass ceiling has been shattered. Even though we’d made a quantum leap in pay two years ago, breaking through £15 is a moment I’ve dreamed about for a long time. It’s proof that we don’t have to accept ‘industry standard’ as the limit. We can choose better. And when we do, everything gets better — for the team, for the people we care for, for everyone. And it has.” – Ali George, Managing Director.
The results of Aria’s workforce investment have been transformative:
- 100% employee retention on average since 2023
- Zero agency use, eliminated overnight following the pay rise
- Triple-digit applicant volumes for every new recruitment campaign
This model has created one of the most stable, committed and sought-after care teams in the country — a sharp contrast to the sector-wide issues of chronic staff shortages and high turnover.
The impact on resident care has been just as dramatic:
- Falls have decreased by 54% since 2022
- Mortality has dropped by 75% over the same period
Aria credits this to continuity of care, stronger staff-resident relationships, and a reinvigorated team culture rooted in trust, wellbeing and professional respect.
While many care providers remain tethered to external funding limits and the Real Living Wage as a ceiling, Aria has taken a different path — proving that better pay isn’t just affordable, it’s transformational.
“I don’t believe in cheap gimmicks to make people feel valued. I’d rather pay them properly, whatever it costs. The goal is to make life a little easier, so people can build meaningful relationships.
We block out the noise from the wider sector and stay focused on what we can control, and what we believe is right.
And when you look at our track record — high pay, no agency, full retention, longevity for residents — it shows what happens when the same good people stay. When there’s a little less financial pressure, and enough time to build real bonds with each other, and with the residents they care for every day.”