Issue 141 29.03.23
The weekly online newsletter for the care sector
Fears cuts are to fund NHS pay increase SOCIAL care campaigners fear cuts are being made to their funding to help find the savings needed to pay NHS nurses better. The Independent Care Group fears money for the settlement is coming from the £14bn extra earlier announced to help the NHS and social care in the coming two years and isn’t “new money”. It has been reported that £500m earmarked to help train the social care workforce has been halved and £300m to boost supported housing scrapped from that £14bn fund. ICG chair Mike Padgham said: “The NHS nurses deserve their improved pay award but that should come from new money, not from making cuts to an existing budget that was set up to pay for improved social care. “This comes at a time when the sector is pleading for more funds not less, to try to tackle a crisis in which there are 165,000 staff vacancies, homes and homecare providers are closing and 1.6m people can’t get the care they need.” The ICG also believes the NHS pay rise must be matched by a similar increase in pay to frontline social care staff who do much the same jobs. Mike added: “If it isn’t, then the gap between NHS staff
and social care staff pay will grow even greater and it will become impossible to recruit into a sector that is already going through the worst staff shortages in its history. “We can’t lose any more staff or the care of our residents and homecare clients will be further jeopardised. “It is unlikely that social care staff will strike because of the make-up of the sector but nevertheless they surely deserve the same pay rise as those who did walk out.” The ICG is calling on the Government to get more funding into social care so that commissioners, like local authorities, can pay care providers better and they can, in turn, pay their staff on a par with their NHS counterparts. “We all clapped on our doorsteps for NHS and care workers for their bravery side by side during the pandemic – it isn’t fair that one is now treated differently when it comes to pay,” Mike added. The ICG wants to see the Government set a National Minimum Wage for care staff on a par with NHS staff. It also wants the Government to increase funding to local authorities and ring fence it to be spent on social care, which would help employers pay the set Minimum Wage.
Black Swan Care Group has committed to providing the Real Living Wage to all of its employees. From April 1 all staff will be paid at least the Real Living Wage of £10.90 per hour. The operator provides care and support to more than 550 people in residential care homes in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, employing more than 800 people. A spokesperson said: “We believe that our staff deserve to be rewarded with fair and reasonable pay, reflecting the skilled work that they do. We’re delighted to be accredited by the Living Wage Foundation and are fully committed to giving our staff a wage that meets everyday needs and sits above the statutory Government minimum wages.”
Group wins award for fourth time BARCHESTER Healthcare is celebrating after fighting off stiff competition to land another internationally-recognised award for demonstrating high health and safety standards. The operator has once again been named RoSPA Health and Safety Awards healthcare sector winner for working hard to ensure its staff, residents, patients and visitors are safe, and for demonstrating the best health and safety performance during 2022. It is the fourth time in five years that Barchester has won this sector-wide award for its commitment to health and safety excellence. Dr Pete Calveley CEO of Barchester Healthcare, said: “Our residents are at the heart of everything we do. “There is nothing more important than the health and safety of our residents, patients and staff, all our teams work tirelessly to achieve the best hygiene and infection
control standards possible. “I am delighted to accept this award on behalf of all the brilliant people who make up Barchester and who go above and beyond every single day to deliver the best possible care.” Organisations receiving a RoSPA Award are recognised as being world-leaders in health and safety practice. The RoSPA Health and Safety Awards is the largest occupational health and safety awards programme in the UK. Now into its 67th year, the Awards have almost 2,000 entries every year, covering nearly 50 countries and a reach of more than seven million employees. The programme recognises organisations’ commitment to continuous improvement in the prevention of accidents and ill health at work, looking at entrants’ overarching health and safety management systems, including practices such as leadership and workforce involvement.
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