This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/27/snatching-money-care-workers-tories
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Snatching money from care workers marks a new low for the Tories | Snatching money from care workers marks a new low for the Tories |
| (25 days later) | |
| At this time of year, journalists need to keep a sharp eye out for government statements sneaked out after parliament has gone home. But I have rarely seen anything as sneaky as this. | At this time of year, journalists need to keep a sharp eye out for government statements sneaked out after parliament has gone home. But I have rarely seen anything as sneaky as this. |
| At a quarter past midnight on Wednesday morning, the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy put out a press release easily missed in the next day’s traffic. Anyone seeing its headline would have thought it was good news: “Government announces additional support for care providers.” Goodness knows they need it: at least one care home a week is going out of business, along with home care companies, who can’t provide acceptable care on the pittance the government pays them. | At a quarter past midnight on Wednesday morning, the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy put out a press release easily missed in the next day’s traffic. Anyone seeing its headline would have thought it was good news: “Government announces additional support for care providers.” Goodness knows they need it: at least one care home a week is going out of business, along with home care companies, who can’t provide acceptable care on the pittance the government pays them. |
| How much is this new “support”? There’s not a penny from the state. All the money is to come from the pockets of care workers, the lowest-paid minimum wage earners. “Government announces measures to temporarily suspend minimum wage enforcement activity for social care sleep-in shift pay,” said the press release. | How much is this new “support”? There’s not a penny from the state. All the money is to come from the pockets of care workers, the lowest-paid minimum wage earners. “Government announces measures to temporarily suspend minimum wage enforcement activity for social care sleep-in shift pay,” said the press release. |
| Following three tribunal cases, in April the government issued a new guidance to care providers to pay minimum-wage hourly rates when carers are called in to sleep over in a care home or in the homes of disabled people who need 24-hour care. Previously, the guidance was to pay a £25 flat rate a night; the new guidance said they should get £60 a night. The tribunal also ruled that six years’ back pay was due to all the care workers who had been short-changed. That is about £400m. | Following three tribunal cases, in April the government issued a new guidance to care providers to pay minimum-wage hourly rates when carers are called in to sleep over in a care home or in the homes of disabled people who need 24-hour care. Previously, the guidance was to pay a £25 flat rate a night; the new guidance said they should get £60 a night. The tribunal also ruled that six years’ back pay was due to all the care workers who had been short-changed. That is about £400m. |
| That caused panic in the sector, including among the 200 charities providing care to 178,000 people. They protested that they couldn’t even get a meeting with ministers to warn of the impending disaster of bankruptcies and closures. Derek Lewis, chairman of trustees at Mencap, said: “High politics, Brexit or the parliamentary recess must not be allowed to get in the way. The future of some of the most vulnerable in our society needs to be protected.” | That caused panic in the sector, including among the 200 charities providing care to 178,000 people. They protested that they couldn’t even get a meeting with ministers to warn of the impending disaster of bankruptcies and closures. Derek Lewis, chairman of trustees at Mencap, said: “High politics, Brexit or the parliamentary recess must not be allowed to get in the way. The future of some of the most vulnerable in our society needs to be protected.” |
| Finally, they got their meeting and this is the panic solution: just ignore the tribunal findings and carry on underpaying care workers. Minimum wage enforcers have been called off. The GMB union, representing many care workers, is consulting lawyers. Can the government legally just set aside a judgment, with no parliamentary vote? This really is taking Henry VIII powers. | Finally, they got their meeting and this is the panic solution: just ignore the tribunal findings and carry on underpaying care workers. Minimum wage enforcers have been called off. The GMB union, representing many care workers, is consulting lawyers. Can the government legally just set aside a judgment, with no parliamentary vote? This really is taking Henry VIII powers. |
| Making the already lowest paid take the strain on social care is the lowest of low politics. The department calls it a “temporary” measure, to be reviewed in October, but with no guarantee the money will be forthcoming afterwards. | Making the already lowest paid take the strain on social care is the lowest of low politics. The department calls it a “temporary” measure, to be reviewed in October, but with no guarantee the money will be forthcoming afterwards. |
| This is the latest twist in the social care crisis. Theresa May rightly made solving it a high priority in her “worst manifesto in history” in May, but since her inept solution blew up, the whole politically toxic issue may have been dumped in the “too difficult” tray; a review is promised but there have been countless reviews over the years. Everyone knows the problem. The NHS begs for proper funding for social care to alleviate its blocked beds. | This is the latest twist in the social care crisis. Theresa May rightly made solving it a high priority in her “worst manifesto in history” in May, but since her inept solution blew up, the whole politically toxic issue may have been dumped in the “too difficult” tray; a review is promised but there have been countless reviews over the years. Everyone knows the problem. The NHS begs for proper funding for social care to alleviate its blocked beds. |
| Recently I spoke to care workers in the West Midlands, who described the hardship of trying to provide good enough care when staff are constantly cut back to cut costs. They said four staff for 22 residents is standard, but often it becomes three or two to care for 38 or 40 incapacitated, demented people. One care worker told me: “Residents can turn violent. If they get urinary infections it can make them suddenly deranged, lashing out.” No wonder there is a huge turnover in care staff, and a desperate shortage of nursing home nurses. | Recently I spoke to care workers in the West Midlands, who described the hardship of trying to provide good enough care when staff are constantly cut back to cut costs. They said four staff for 22 residents is standard, but often it becomes three or two to care for 38 or 40 incapacitated, demented people. One care worker told me: “Residents can turn violent. If they get urinary infections it can make them suddenly deranged, lashing out.” No wonder there is a huge turnover in care staff, and a desperate shortage of nursing home nurses. |
| Gavin Davies, a former care worker and now a GMB officer, says sleeping in at night means not sleeping much: people with dementia often don’t know night from day. “With severely learning-disabled people, something happens at night nine times out of 10. A lot have epilepsy, and there are a lot of accidents.” Those at the sharpest end of the hardest work, caring for the out-of-sight most disabled people, are the ones now paying for the lack of funds for social care. They are £400m out of pocket: will they ever be paid it? | Gavin Davies, a former care worker and now a GMB officer, says sleeping in at night means not sleeping much: people with dementia often don’t know night from day. “With severely learning-disabled people, something happens at night nine times out of 10. A lot have epilepsy, and there are a lot of accidents.” Those at the sharpest end of the hardest work, caring for the out-of-sight most disabled people, are the ones now paying for the lack of funds for social care. They are £400m out of pocket: will they ever be paid it? |
| The charities who have led the campaign are distressed that the reprieve they have won has come at the expense of care workers they depend on. Mencap’s Derek Lewis says: “We all recognise that our social care colleagues do some outstanding work and are some of the lowest paid, but we cannot pay them if we do not have the money and we only receive money from government sources.” Yet again, the government’s austerity bites those with least. | The charities who have led the campaign are distressed that the reprieve they have won has come at the expense of care workers they depend on. Mencap’s Derek Lewis says: “We all recognise that our social care colleagues do some outstanding work and are some of the lowest paid, but we cannot pay them if we do not have the money and we only receive money from government sources.” Yet again, the government’s austerity bites those with least. |
| Social care | Social care |
| First thoughts | First thoughts |
| Minimum wage | Minimum wage |
| Dementia | Dementia |
| Mental health | Mental health |
| Charities | Charities |
| Voluntary sector | Voluntary sector |
| comment | comment |
| Share on Facebook | Share on Facebook |
| Share on Twitter | Share on Twitter |
| Share via Email | Share via Email |
| Share on LinkedIn | Share on LinkedIn |
| Share on Pinterest | Share on Pinterest |
| Share on Google+ | Share on Google+ |
| Share on WhatsApp | Share on WhatsApp |
| Share on Messenger | Share on Messenger |
| Reuse this content | Reuse this content |