Demand made to increase pay of Calderdale social care staff

Calderdale Council’s Director of Adult Services and Wellbeing, Iain Baines, said rates had to remain competitive with other sectors to avoid a staffing crisis.

Although social care staff were dedicated to doing their best for people, at the end of the day they also had to put food on the table for their own families, making switching jobs attractive if they could earn more money, he said.

One section of Calderdale Council’s Adults, Health and Social Care “scrutiny in a day” session examining the new Health and Social Care Bill 2021 looked at its implications for social care.

Mr Baines said challenges included retaining staff who had worked really hard to keep people safe during the COVID-19 pandemic but were questioning their work-life balance, he said.

Rates of pay for social carers had no parity with other related professions, said Mr Baines.

Pay rates were often better in jobs outside of care work, he said, including ones he had seen advertised for warehouse work for an international company.

He posed the question that if financial need was imperative, who would not choose to be a packer?

“I know today there will be people working in social care who will be reliant on Universal Credit.

“As a society, we need to value social care more.

“For someone taking a difficult-to-do job they love and struggling to put food on the table for their family, I can understand why they are leaving social care.

“We need to re-examine how we reward people.

“I am putting in a lot of hope that people have recognised the value and high skill level that social care workers bring, day in, day out,” said Mr Baines.

Coun Dot Foster (Lab, Sowerby Bridge), had family members working in social care and agreed – “it is low paid, long hours and hard work and it is just not appreciated,” she said.

Staff turnover was huge, around 30 per cent, which was also a problem. Some help with pay brought in for care staff by the council went some way to improve things, said Coun Foster.

She asked if the bill had provision for a minimum staffing ratio as this was one of the most worrying aspects of social care.

Mr Baines said what needed to happen – as well as meeting the pay issue – was setting out a path of career progress for people entering the social care profession.

“People are often asked to work overtime to cover for staff vacancies and the result is people get really exhausted,” he said.

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