Campaigners demand better pay for social care workers with petition to Downing Street

Campaigners demanding better pay for social care workers are taking their concerns to the Prime Minister’s door as they hand in a petition at Downing Street.

The call from Dimensions, an organisation supporting people with learning difficulties, is supported by MPs including Conservative Damian Green, who described the “crisis” in social care as getting “ever more urgent to address by the day”.

More than 76,000 signatures have been collected on the petition, which urges the Government to “benchmark and fund minimum care worker pay at NHS Band 3, currently £11.67 per hour”.

Band 3 roles include emergency care assistants, occupational therapy support workers and pharmacy assistants, and salaries range from £21,000 to £23,000 depending on experience.

The petition, to be handed in on Tuesday, stated that the benchmarking would “allow care and support workers to earn a wage aligned with their skills and responsibilities, and encourage a much-needed pool of talented, dedicated workers into these vital careers”.

Most social care staff are employed by private sector providers who are responsible for setting their pay and conditions.

But in a report last year the Health and Social Care Committee suggested that “increases in pay and improvements in terms and conditions will not be possible without an increase in social care funding” from the Government.

Mr Green, who is co-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Adult Social Care, said: “The social care crisis has been escalating for decades, and becomes ever more urgent to address by the day.

“Dimensions’ petition calls for an essential change that I believe will go a long way towards preventing skilled social care workers from leaving the workforce for better paid roles elsewhere.

“We cannot fix the NHS without addressing the problem in social care first, and increasing pay to attract more staff is one key element of this.”

Rachael Dodgson, chief executive of Dimensions, said: “It is incredibly encouraging to see the country unite behind our cause and recognise the vast importance of our social care workforce and the difference they make to the people they support.

“Every day, thousands of social care and support workers undertake complex delegated nursing tasks and support people to make choices and gain control over their life. They maintain family relationships, help with friendships, support with employment and personal care. They are skilled, professional workers.

“While other sectors have seen pay rise after pay rise, social care has been left behind. If this continues for much longer, not only will the people who rely on our support be impacted, but the NHS will also slow to a halt.

“Increasing social care pay isn’t just a case of rewarding hard work, but will support recruitment and retention efforts at a time when the sector is under immense pressure. We urge the Government to consider our call and move social care funding up the agenda.”

In May, social care minister Helen Whately told the Health and Social Care Committee that she does not “want people always to think of social care as being sort of a national living wage job” and said social care workers “should be rewarded for what they do”.

She said that “fundamentally” pay for social care workers is determined by their employers but added that the Government has delivered the biggest funding increase in history for adult social care in England, with up to £7.5 billion over two years which is intended to enable local authorities to invest in social care.

Meanwhile, the largest representative body for independent providers of adult social care in the country has set out what it described as its “roadmap to a sustainable future” for the sector.

Care England said its policy recommendations for the next government are backed by representative groups including the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

The organisation has set out its requests for the next politicians who take office, laying out steps they should take within 100 days, two years and five years of being elected.

These include making the professional registration of adult social care staff in England mandatory in the first 100 days, implementing a fully funded £15 minimum care wage and developing parity of esteem with NHS staff in the first two years; and consolidating reforms within a fully funded, long-term adult social care workforce plan within five years.

Care England chief executive Professor Martin Green said: “Our roadmap accounts for the challenging economic situation likely to be inherited by the next government, prioritising measures that would stabilise the sector in the immediate term and transform care over the next five years.

“By giving the sector the resources and confidence it needs, the next government can play a decisive role in delivering an adult social care sector that is fit for our future and that the nation can be proud of.”

Karolina Gerlich, of the Care Workers’ Charity, backed the call for mandatory professional registration of adult social care staff, saying a professional register “would help raise the status of working in care, and highlight the fantastic and life-changing work colleagues across the sector do on a day to day basis”.

Paul Nowak, TUC general secretary, said a £15-an-hour minimum wage would be a “game-changer and crucially keep more skilled carers in the profession”, describing the current situation as “unsustainable”.

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