Why we must ‘care for’ our care workers and stop the attacks on them
Why we must ‘care for’ our care workers and stop the attacks on them
Care workers have been submitted to devastating treatment from Commissioners who wield their power through contracting out services. I say this because when we raise the issue of terms & conditions for our members working for the contractors, the contractors respond by saying it is the ‘Council who are responsible.’
In Barnet we have a dispute known as the Your Choice Care Workers dispute which you can read about here and here.
But there is a wider issue that goes beyond Barnet Council, Social Care is in crisis but not just about the cost but what it is doing to the quality of service delivery. The key issue commissioning continues to ignore is that without staff there is no service and the race to the bottom will only lead to further scandals and allegations of abuse. Incredibly there are some people who believe that lower wages including zero hours contracts guarantees quality services!
Some members of the public condemn care workers for having the temerity to stand up to the ongoing attacks to their terms and conditions. These ignorant people and I mean ignorant try to argue care work is not an important role and are first to call care workers greedy for not accepting cuts to their pay.
They will condemn the Doncaster Care UK care workers and they will condemn Your Choice Barnet care workers.
BUT where would we be without care workers?
I would argue that the way we treat those who provide care is a measure of what sort of society we aspire to be. Social Care is in a crisis, not just because of funding but I believe because of the way we treat the staff who deliver the care.
How can it be right that care work pays less then working behind a bar or in a supermarket?
We will at some point all rely on a care worker whether it is for ourselves or for someone we love and cherish. The level of trust we place on the care worker is critical to the quality of care required by the person needing support.
Providing care is exhausting work both physically and mentally. It is critically important that those providing care are provided with the best training, support and supervision to ensure the care they provide is of the highest quality.
BUT ‘Commissioning’ has undermined the role of the care worker, it has led to zero hours culture, it has led to the ‘15 minutes’ of care culture where home care workers are forced to provide 15 minutes of care and move on to their next client.
The advocates of the commissioning model will throw up their arms and protest they have brought value for money and greater innovation but the facts are there to see
· ‘Social care commissioners should ditch zero-hours contracts’
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/mar/25/social-care-ditch-zero-hours-contracts
· ‘300,000 people on zero hours contracts in social care alone’
· ‘Unscrupulous employers exploiting workers through zero-hours contracts’
· ‘Are 1 in 5 social care workers on zero-hours contracts?’
https://fullfact.org/factchecks/social_care_workers_zero_hours_contracts-29039
· ‘Ending the abuse of zero-hours contracts’