Latest News from Everycare
A care worker told MPs in the House of Commons they need to ditch the perception that care work is unskilled, saying “it is simply not true”.
Chevonne Baker, who works for Right at Home Basingstoke spoke to the Health and Social Care Committee chaired by MP Jeremy Hunt, giving her recommendations for improving retention in the social care sector.
The committee was examining the issues of retention, recruitment and training in health and social care.
Ms Baker believes the label that is often given to care workers as ‘low-skilled’ or ‘unskilled’ is very bad for the profession and makes people feel they are not valued. She said the “hardest challenge at the moment is there are not enough of us to go around” as the demand for care workers is so high.
She added: “I think care has a bit of a bad reputation—it has a bit of a dirty name —which is not helped by the media only showing the negative side. You hear when things go wrong, when stories go haywire, and we are deemed as unskilled workers, which simply is not true. I am trained to be able to walk into a number of different circumstances and situations and to ensure my clients get the best care they deserve.
“Administering care in people’s homes means we are able to monitor their care and their situations, and we can spot when they are not quite themselves and when things start to go wrong, so we can contact health care professionals early to minimise any of the effects afterwards. We play a vital role in keeping people at home, keeping them safe, keeping the NHS under slightly less pressure and trying to keep hospitals a bit freer.
“We do an amazing job, but we are still deemed as unskilled and unworthy of any accolade or acclaim that other health care professionals receive.”
To read the full story visit homecare.co.uk
The UK’s home care sector is spending an extra £75m on petrol and diesel compared to a year ago, according to research by the Homecare Association.
The home care sector’s collective spending on fuel is up from £224 million a year in May 2021 to £299 million in May 2022.
Since May 2021, the cost of petrol and diesel has steadily increased, rocketing in recent months, with analysts predicting petrol could rise to as much as £2 a litre in the next couple of months.
Based on analysis of research by the consumer research website, NimbleFins, the Association found that an estimated 113 million litres are being used by petrol cars on home care visits a year and 60 million litres are used by diesel cars.
‘Dramatic rise in fuel costs since May 2021’
The Homecare Association, which represents home care providers, is urging the government to pay for a temporary fuel allowance to cover rising fuel costs for vehicles used to deliver home care, as well as reinstate emergency Covid-19 funding for care workers to receive full sick pay.
Jane Townson, the chief executive of the Homecare Association said: “We reiterate our call for the government to provide temporary grant funding as a fuel allowance to cover increased costs of fuel for vehicles needed to deliver home care.
“As we have seen, the UK home care sector requires an extra £75 million to cover the dramatic rise in fuel costs since May 2021.”
To read the full story visit homecare.co.uk
A 17-year-old business administrator who is embarking on her level 3 apprentice is urging young people to think about a career in the care sector.
Lauren Rawson from Sutton in Ashfield attended Quarrydale School in Sutton and included a health and social care GCSE as one of her subjects.
After she left school, she wanted to further her studies in mental health and wellbeing but after a chance encounter with a colleague from Respectful Care Nottingham South, Ms Rawson decided to try social care and “see what it is all about.”
Ms Rawson told homecare.co.uk said: “I did my GCSE in health and social care. I always took an interest in it. It was one of my favourite subjects whilst I was in school.
“When I left, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I was going to go along with studying mental health but I knew [a friend who] worked in care so I just thought I would try it and see what it is all about.
“I started my apprenticeship and stayed here ever since. I have been loving it ever since I started.”
Ms Rawson wants to see other people joining the care sector and to encourage them, she said: “It’s very rewarding and every day you feel good about yourself. It’s a very nice environment where you have everyone around you where we all get along. It’s a great career.
“It’s something to have a go at whilst being paid.
“I hear a lot of people say ‘oh care, its quite a scary job’ but you don’t really need to worry about that because you get the training provided for you and you get so much support, it’s all there for you. You don’t need to worry.”
To read the full story visit homecare.co.uk
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has urged the government to remove all charges to immigration visas and set a minimum wage of £10.50 an hour for care workers in England to help alleviate the impact of workforce challenges.
The MAC report, which briefs ministers on immigration policy has put forward 19 recommendations, which it says will alleviate the challenges facing the social care sector, including recruitment and retention.
The National Care Forum (NCF) the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG) and the Homecare Association have welcomed the report and said this “reiterates some very important issues” which includes issues of underfunding and how this continues to “exacerbate challenges to providers”, high staff vacancy and turnover rates and the “impact of low pay and the care workforce challenges”.
‘We know the true value of care work is much more’
Vic Rayner, chief executive of the NCF and member of the social care expert advisory for the MAC said: “While a focus on the minimum pay for care workers in this report is a helpful contribution to this issue, the NCF has consistently called for an independent pay review for social care, which involves employers, commissioners, and employee representatives with a view to implementing a new career-based pay and reward structure which is comparable with the NHS and equivalent sectors and fully-funded by central government.”
The VODG is also urging the government to “embrace” the committee’s recommendations to fully fund a rate of social care pay above the National Living Wage.
Dr Rhidian Hughes, chief executive of VODG said: “At present, charities are prevented from improving pay rates because funding passed down by central government to local authorities falls woefully insufficient.
