The Liberal Democrats are calling for a higher minimum wage for social care workers to help tackle staff shortages.
Under the party’s plans, staff would be paid at least £2 an hour more than the minimum wage – currently £9.50 an hour for over-23s.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said carers were not valued enough, and vacancies had left the NHS “on its knees”.
The government said it was working to reduce vacancies, and is increasing funding for social care in England.
The UK national minimum wage sets out the lowest amount a worker can be paid per hour by law.
The rates are decided by the government, based on the recommendations of an independent advisory group, and change every year.
More than half of frontline care staff – 850,000 workers – would see their pay improve if there was a £2 an hour uplift to the minimum wage for the sector, according to the Resolution Foundation think tank.
The Lib Dems said the policy would be funded by increasing the tax on online gambling providers’ profits to 42%. The tax – know an Remote Gaming Duty – is currently 21%.
The party said the government would need to give councils an extra £1bn a year to cover higher staffing costs.
It added that ministers should also take into account minimum wage rises when setting social care budgets.
There are more than 165,000 vacancies in adult social care in England, up 52% in a year, the latest official figures show.
The Lib Dems said “chronic staff shortages” were leading to patients being left in hospital waiting for social care, contributing to record waiting times for A&E.
It added that higher pay for care workers was required to prevent an “exodus of workers to supermarkets and other better paid jobs”.
Speaking on BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Sir Ed said his party’s plans would deal with “one of the big problems” facing the health service.
The Lib Dem leader, whose teenage son has a neurological condition that means he needs 24/7 care, said he had witnessed the value of care work first-hand.
“We need these social care workers. They’ve never been valued enough,” he added.
The Department of Health and Social Care, which is responsible for health policy in England, said most paid carers were employed by private companies, who were responsible for setting pay.
A statement added that the legal minimum wage across all workplaces was set to rise to £10.42 an hour for over-23s from April.
“We are prioritising health and social care with £14.1bn over the next two years, including up to £7.5bn for adult social care – the biggest funding increase in history,” the department added.