INVENTARIO DE IMPACTOS

Social care staff make up around 1 in 10 minimum wage workers, and home care staff are recognised by the Low Pay Commission as working in a sector with a high proportion of minimum wage

workers. In 2009 care workers’ hourly pay rates in the private sector were around 50p less than those of retail sector

workers.70_{For that year, the average}

minimum pay rate for home care workers employed by independent sector agencies was £6.40 an hour.71_{We were told that, in}

practice, this figure can be lower when care workers are paid according to the time allocated for each visit, and not paid for their travelling time.

Although the National Minimum Wage (NMW) Regulations do not require workers to be paid for travelling time, their pay when averaged over all

qualifying working hours must be at least the NMW level. Qualifying working hours for these purposes includes time spent travelling between visits. It is estimated that travelling time between visits adds approximately 20 per cent to a care

worker’s paid time,72_{which would imply a}

minimum hourly pay rate from 1 October 2011 of £7.2973_{to meet NMW levels.}

Only a very small number of the local authority service specifications we analysed included any reference to the terms and conditions of home care

workers, and only one mentioned that pay rates should be above the NMW to take travelling time into account.

“My mother was ... entirely dependent on visiting carers for all her needs. Ladies came on buses to provide the 30 minutes four times a day. Sometimes the journey could take them nearly 2 hours with a final half mile uphill to walk from the bus stop. They were exhausted and not paid for travel time. If they were unable to get to a shift it often went without cover.”

Daughter of older woman previously receiving home care currently in residential care, South of England

A number of local authorities responding to our survey identified the poor pay and conditions of home care workers as a key barrier to promoting human rights. The effect on staff retention, training levels and the quality of staff attracted to the industry all have a knock-on effect on older people.

“The workforce is low paid. Human rights are best promoted through providers being able to offer a competitive wage that would attract better quality staff who understand human rights issues and live the values.”

Local authority responding to survey

This was also raised by Unison who

submitted evidence of a continued downward pressure on pay and increasing numbers of workers receiving payment below the

National Minimum Wage. They attribute this partly to the emerging employment practices of ‘stretching unpaid hours.’74

“Low pay and stretched unpaid hours correlate directly to the high rate of turnover in the workforce. The lower the pay, the higher the churn and turnover rate in the workforce. This benefits no one, making well-trained, person centred care extremely difficult to deliver.”

Unison’s response to the call for evidence

Workers’ pay makes up a significant proportion of home care providers’ overall costs. Home care providers indicated that when rates are cut by commissioning bodies, the pay and conditions of workers are likely to be affected.

contract and the regular supply of work that this brings.

They have insufficient staff to fulfil all their obligations, particularly at weekends, and as their pay rate is low they have a huge staff turnover, meaning that staff are often inadequately trained. This has an obvious impact on their clients who are often left for long periods of time between visits.”

Private sector provider, South of England

One local authority identified improving care workers’ employment conditions as being of central importance in helping them deliver a high quality home care service to the older people in their area. This was reflected in their approach to procurement of home care providers.

“We wanted to improve the care workforce ... We wanted to see staff on salaries, no zero hour contracts, proper career structures ... staff who are skilled up and trained to provide a variety of needs ... So we have asked providers to clearly tell us in their bids, how are they going to do something to improve the workforce and staff. .. I just think there isn’t any job that is more significant or important in

people’s lives than ... the dom[iciliary] care worker. And yet ... dom care workers, they get minimum wage, they get rubbish hours, they don’t get holidays.”

Local authority commissioning manager

workers’ pay and conditions. Given the very low rates in some local authority contracts, some could not see how these would cover the essential costs of service delivery. Although providers are free to take contracts and incur a cost, this may not be a sustainable approach to

commissioning home care.

These concerns have been echoed by the Low Pay Commission, which has

repeatedly recommended that the

commissioning policies of local authorities should reflect the actual costs of care, including the National Minimum Wage.

“We were concerned by evidence indicating that the level of fees paid by public sector bodies when purchasing care services from the independent social care sector did not reflect minimum wage costs.”75

Low Pay Commission Report 2011

Core skills including literacy