Pay cuts loom for Enable Cumbernauld staff

By The Cumbernauld News10th April 2012News Scotland

CARE workers in Cumbernauld face a 15 per cent pay cut – and the blame is aimed at North Lanarkshire Council.

UNISON regional organiser Sam McFarlane recently contacted the News to claim that, as a result of a drop in financial support from the council, a number of employees of ENABLE Cumbernauld will have their hourly rates slashed. Affected members of the trade union have been meeting to discuss their response.

Mr McFarlane said: “Former employees of Enable Cumbernauld, which is now part of Enable SCOTLAND, were issued with a letter telling them Enable intend to slash their pay from £8.47 an hour to £7.20. Enable are laying the responsibility for this clearly at North Lanarkshire Council’s door.”

Mary Fegan, North Lanarkshire Council’s Head of Social Work, said: “The council has contributed top-up funding to ENABLE Cumbernauld for a number of years now, to assist with the transition from a residential to a supported living model of support.

“ENABLE was aware that the top-up funding was for a limited time only, and it has now reached an end. While we continue to support the organisation in other ways, it is entirely a matter for ENABLE to decide on matters relating to their budget at staffing.”

An ENABLE Scotland spokeswoman said: “ENABLE Scotland has no option but to manage budgets responsibly and to ensure that our services are sustainable. We have therefore started an extensive process of consultation with a small number of staff who may be affected as we look towards bringing their rate of pay in line with the majority of other frontline staff. The Senior Executive Team has not arrived at this decision lightly, and we have maintained this higher rate of pay, which is based on an old residential model of service delivery, for as long as we could. This consultation should be seen in the wider context of an organisational commitment to increase the rate of pay for all frontline staff to not less than the ‘living wage’ of £7.20 per hour which will benefit around 1,000 workers.”