Social care workers in the North East of England receive the highest salary ‘premium’, according to social care recruitment agency Randstad Care.

The recruiter analysed more than 870,000 CVs and salaries across a variety of industries – including more than 5,400 from the social care sector – to compare them to average salaries in each region. This enabled Randstad Care to establish which areas were the most lucrative or unprofitable for different professions when compared to the regional average wage.

Employees working in social care in the North East enjoy a comparative salary premium of almost 18% - the equivalent of an extra £6,185 in their pay cheque each year. Those working in the East Midlands (16%) and the South West (14.9%) rounded out the top three.

At the other end of the scale, Scottish social care workers were the biggest losers, suffering a salary ‘discount’ of 15.3%. Employees in the North West (-15.1%) and Eastern England (-2.8%) also have grounds to feel aggrieved, with the research suggesting they are all paid comparatively less well.

Victoria Short, MD of Randstad Care, said: “Everyone knows that London pays the best wages across most sectors, but this research drills deeper than that to show that it’s not necessarily the best place to be based if you work in social care. Yes, average salaries may be more handsome than in other regions, but you also have the extra associated expense.

“If you work in social care, you may actually be better off in the North East, the South West or the East Midlands.”

Randstad conducted the wide-ranging research to accompany the launch of its new Salary Checker tool which allows workers to see how much their professional counterparts and regional neighbours are earning.