25 signatures reached
To: Local authorities and care agencies
Higher pay for Care workers
Increase pay for skilled care workers, including private PA's. Minimum £12.50 per hour.
Why is this important?
All too often we hear stories about failing care systems. A lot of the time the workers have been blamed for inadequate care.... What you don't hear of, is how little support these workers have. Also, just how little investment goes into training! if any at all.
These workers endure incredibly unsociable working hours. Providing high quality care is not easy under this pressure. Higher pay would enable these workers to "share the load". Having teams able to work more manageable hours and still be able to afford to live. Local authorities and care agencies MUST be made accountable for ensuring ALL staff are properly trained regularly. They make massive profits and don't seem to invest in the workforce.
This will have a knock on effect to the quality of care people receive. Overworked staff cannot provide the best quality care.
I myself am a working private personal assistant. 12 years experience. NVQ 3 qualified. I work within a team which is crumbling because people cannot cope with the unsociable hours or cannot get enough hours to make a decent amount of money. All the while this is going on, the care or a vulnerable, elderly and frail lady has to be maintained. Meaning I work throughout the day until 11pm and start again at 8am. Not easy 7 days a week and juggling a family too!
There is a clear link between low pay of care workers and poor quality care. The simple answer to raise standards of care from my experience is to increase workers pay. It is a demanding job role and it should be recognised as such.
These workers endure incredibly unsociable working hours. Providing high quality care is not easy under this pressure. Higher pay would enable these workers to "share the load". Having teams able to work more manageable hours and still be able to afford to live. Local authorities and care agencies MUST be made accountable for ensuring ALL staff are properly trained regularly. They make massive profits and don't seem to invest in the workforce.
This will have a knock on effect to the quality of care people receive. Overworked staff cannot provide the best quality care.
I myself am a working private personal assistant. 12 years experience. NVQ 3 qualified. I work within a team which is crumbling because people cannot cope with the unsociable hours or cannot get enough hours to make a decent amount of money. All the while this is going on, the care or a vulnerable, elderly and frail lady has to be maintained. Meaning I work throughout the day until 11pm and start again at 8am. Not easy 7 days a week and juggling a family too!
There is a clear link between low pay of care workers and poor quality care. The simple answer to raise standards of care from my experience is to increase workers pay. It is a demanding job role and it should be recognised as such.
