Councils not paying the price for care

The BBC is this morning reporting that nine out of 10 councils in the UK are not paying ‘realistic prices’ to support older and disabled people in their own homes. The UK Home Care Association calculated the minimum price councils should be paying was £16.70 per hour, but the average was over £2 less. UNISON Cymru confirmed that the situation in Wales in grave and that it is campaigning for dignity of care for all patients.

Eddie Gabrielsen, UNISON Cymru lead on care, said

“Our most vulnerable members of society are being denied the care they need because of inadequate funding of social services in Wales. Years of UK Conservative Government imposed spending cuts have led councils to contract out care provision to private companies and not-for-profit organisations. These bodies then struggle to meet even basic employment conditions for the carers. Carers typically earn the minimum wage and they are often denied payment for travel time between clients and supplements for unsocial working, including over Christmas.  The volume of clients they are asked to see means they are often forced to see people for just a quarter of an hour or less. Carers have long complained this denies their patients the dignity they deserve.

“Our care in Wales is fragmented and under-resourced and leads to additional and unnecessary strains on the NHS. UNISON has developed an Ethical Care Charter which it is asking councils in Wales to adopt. It would not only ensure dignity of care for patients but fair and decent employment standards for care staff.”

UNISON revealed in August that employees at homecare companies contracted by the City and County of Swansea council and a neighbouring council were instructed to by their employer not to stay the full length of time with the client that is stipulated on the client care plan.

In January this year, UNISON celebrated when a hundred home care workers in Swansea and Carmarthenshire received payments up to £2,500 after care provider MiHomecare corrected a breach of the National Minimum Wage regulations to ensure their hourly rates of pay comply with the legal minimum when travel time is accounted for.