Scottish Labour commit to living wage for all council care workers

The Scottish Labour Party has announced it would compel all councils and private firms engaged in council contracts to pay the living wage of at least £7.85 an hour to care workers if it forms the next Scottish government.

The Party said that putting more money in the pockets of care workers will help make it a career rather than a job with a high turnover rate.

Deputy Leader Alex Rowley (pictured) said that so many of the problems in the NHS, including lengthy waits at A&E departments, can be caused by problems in the care sector. He said: “The NHS is our must precious institution. Now more than ever we need a health service free at the point of need and fit for the 21st century.

“Despite the hard work of dedicated NHS staff, our health service is creaking at the seams. Our Accident and Emergency Departments are under strain, and it’s likely to get even worse when winter arrives. The sticking plaster approach of the SNP just isn’t good enough.

“In hospitals across the country patients have to wait for hours in A&E because the beds they should be in are occupied by elderly patients who are fit to go home but can’t because the care package isn’t there.

“The solution to this problem isn’t to send short-term emergency teams to our A&E departments. We need to ensure that people can be cared for at home or in the community and key to that is tackling the recruitment and retention problem in the care sector.

“That’s why Scottish Labour supports a real living wage for care workers, so that we can make caring a career people will chose for the long term. This will improve the care elderly people receive and relieve the pressure on our front line NHS.

“Giving care workers a real living wage is the kind of investment our health service needs. Anyone who has been in receipt of care, or has had a family member receive care, knows that carers are just the salt of the earth. The idea that carers are paid no more than the minimum wage just beggars belief.

“We need to invest in the NHS to make it fit for the 2040s, not the 1940s. By investing in our care workers now we can save hundreds of millions of pounds in the costs of delayed discharge. This money will help us to meet not just the costs of care, but to fund the new cures and treatments the NHS can offer in the years ahead.”

However, council body Cosla questioned whether local authorities could afford the increase. A spokesman said: “Cosla has already given its collective political support to delivering a living wage for our social care staff. However, we are realistic about the size of the investment this would require.

“The question is not whether it is the right thing to do for our staff and the quality of the services they deliver, but how local government is supported to find the necessary levels of investment to deliver it in the current financial climate.

“It is also important to understand that pay rates are not the only important issue in relation to the capacity and effectiveness of social care.

“We need to be ambitious in addressing the level of reform required to deliver an effective and sustainable health and social care service which prevents unnecessary hospital admissions and readmissions.”