Latest News from Everycare
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.
Almost 20,000 home care workers have left their jobs since September when the government first announced its ‘no jab no job’ policy but its decision to scrap it from 15 March, has been welcomed by care bosses.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has confirmed its Vaccination as a Condition of Deployment (VCOD) policy (originally due to come into force on 1 April for home care workers and the NHS in England) will be revoked effective from 15 March, after consultation with the NHS and care sector.
No jab no job U-turn ‘preventing further care workers leaving’
While the regulations had already come into force for care home workers last November, a vaccine mandate had not come into force for home care workers. With many home care bosses reporting they have lost staff since September, the U-turn was welcomed.
“We are very pleased the government is reversing the VCOD regulations and therefore preventing further care workers from leaving the workforce”, said Dr Jane Townson, the chief executive of the Homecare Association, which has a membership of over 2,340 home care providers in the UK.
“We have always strongly supported vaccination against COVID-19, as it helps protect the recipient from severe illness and death. However, we believe persuasion is more effective and proportionate than compulsion, in encouraging uptake amongst the remaining workers with a genuine fear about vaccination.
“We also need to balance the mitigated risk of infection with the very real risk of even more older and disabled people going without care due to workforce shortages.”
Domiciliary care bosses have reported that 89 per cent of home care staff had received one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, as of 13 February 2022.
For the full story visit the homecare.co.uk website
Following predictions the NHS would be hit by a loss of over 70,000 frontline staff and a fifth of the home care workforce would quit if the mandate was introduced in April, Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced yesterday evening to the House of Commons that the government is removing the legal requirement for all health and social care staff in England to be double jabbed against COVID-19.
The mandate for care home staff to have the jab came into force on 11 November and led to thousands of care workers being sacked.
Mr Javid said: “While vaccination remains our very best line of defence against COVID-19, I believe it is no longer proportionate to require Vaccination as a Condition of Deployment through statute.
“So, Madam Deputy Speaker, today I am announcing that we will launch a consultation on ending Vaccination as a Condition of Deployment in health and all social care settings.
“I have always been clear that our rules must remain proportionate and balanced – and of course, should we see another dramatic change in the virus, it would be responsible to review this policy again.”
Mr Javid explained that the vaccine mandate was put in place because of the severity of the Delta variant, but now with the Omicron variant being the dominant variant and less severe plus the success of the vaccine rollout, he says it is only right the policy was reviewed.
For the full story visit homecare.co.uk
A recent report has highlighted the fact that in large areas of the UK local authorities are failing to pay care providers enough to provide a service that can break even, putting huge pressure on their ability to recruit and retain staff.
It means, despite losing staff faster than they can be replaced, companies are unable to raise wages, says the Homecare Association.
Low wages and feeling undervalued are key factors leading care staff to quit, says the report.
Councils say they do not have enough money to pay companies more.
The Homecare Association, which represents some 2,340 care providers, calculates the true minimum cost of providing an hour of homecare in the UK is £21.43.
To read the full story visit the BBC website.
