The Care Workers’ Charity welcomes the publication of the latest Sector Pulse Check report, which highlights critical challenges facing the social care sector.
Commenting on the findings, Karolina Gerlich, CEO of The Care Workers’ Charity, said:
“We are unsurprised to see poor pay rates and the low status of care listed as major reasons for difficulties in recruiting care workers. Care work is skilled and responsible, and it must be respected and reimbursed accordingly. We completely agree with the report’s recommendation for a multi-year funding settlement and a fully funded roadmap towards achieving parity between care workers and NHS staff. This is something we have long championed through our Workforce Advocacy Programme.
The charity strongly supports raising the Living Wage and advocates for a starting rate of £15 per hour for care workers. As the report highlights, this must be accompanied by local authority fee uplifts to ensure these costs are met without compromising other vital areas, such as funding for care worker wellbeing programmes or risks to staff losing their jobs if providers cut role or close all together. For example, the report showed 45% of providers supporting people with learning disabilities closing parts of their organistion and/or handing back contracts. This can’t be good for care workers in these organistions or people drawing on their care.
The report also highlights the difficulties to internation recruitment that have come about due to recent changes in immigration rules including not allowing care workers to bring dependents to the UK. We join calls from the report and others to review the no-dependents rule for care workers. This policy not only negatively impacts recruitment but has profound human implications. It cannot be right to ask people to care for our loved ones while denying them the opportunity to be with their own families.
The Care Workers’ Charity urges stakeholders to listen to the report’s findings and recommendations and act decisively to secure the future of the social care workforce.”