Government ‘Must Champion Care Workers’

Increasing the basic pay of care workers, ensuring they get sick pay and a pension and are properly checked for work should set new minimum standards and start to address the real problems in caring for Britain’s elderly with dignity, according to Britain’s largest union Unite.

{mosimage}The union went public with its frustrations following the publication of Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights report on elderly care and the extension of the government’s ‘Dignity Champions’ scheme to mental health.

Jack Dromey, Unite deputy general secretary, said the union, which has a growing membership in the care sector believed ministers and MPs have missed a key element by ignoring the vital issues of how staff are recruited, paid and looked after by employers. “The human rights of the elderly are important but the employment rights of those who look after them are being compromised,” he said. “It is right for the government to herald ‘Dignity Champions’ but care workers need dignity too.”

Following the successful “Keep Bristol Home Care” campaign against privatisation, the union is gathering evidence of how care is provided in the private sector.

Mr. Dromey said early reports showed systematic attacks on pay, terms and conditions lay at the heart of the problem. The profit motive and persistent pressure to privatise means pay, terms and conditions are being driven down leading to staff turnover going up and chronic social care staff shortages.

Corners are being cut on security checks and aptitude for the job, which is caring and intimate but often physically and emotionally demanding. Poor pay, with many on the minimum wage, and no sick pay meant care workers were forced to work whilst ill themselves. Unite said this put the elderly and vulnerable at further risk.

“Any review of how we look after our elderly and vulnerable people in hospitals, care homes and their own homes must mean a culture change to ensure care workers are properly respected and rewarded,” said Mr. Dromey.

“It is not acceptable for our elderly to suffer abuses which leave them in horrific conditions and in fear of their lives. MPs and ministers are right to highlight those but they must recognise the stressful working conditions for the care staff and address those with equally high profile comments.”