02/08/2017
It seems that every journalist knows that sometimes when parliament has gone home, government statements are apt to be sneaked out. This is exactly what happened here, and what a sneaky move it is!
At a quarter past midnight a press release from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy issued a press release which was very easily missed in the business of the day. The headline read 'Government announces additional support for care providers'.
At first glance you might have thought that this was good news. Care providers certainly need additional support, with at least one care home closing every week. Added to that there are many home care companies who simply cannot provide high quality care on the small amount of pay they receive from the government.
Why then is this press release not what care workers want to hear? Funding for the 'new support' will not come from the government. Rather, it will come from the pockets of care workers, who are in fact the lowest-paid minimum wage earners.
The press release stated that 'Government announces measures to temporarily suspend minimum wage enforcement activity for social care sleep-in pay'.
In April 2017, after three tribunal cases, a new guidance was issued to care providers to pay the minimum-wage hourly rate to carers who perform what are known as 'sleep-ins', either in a care home, or in a client's home.
The pay for this service had been set at a flat rate of £25 per night, but the new guidance raised it to £60 per night. Also included in the ruling was that there was some six years back pay due to all carers who had been short changed. This amount totalled up to £400m.
Understandably this caused an uproar is the care sector with ministers warning of the impending disaster of bankruptcies. Chairman of Trustees at Mencap, Derek Lewis, stated that neither parliamentary recess, nor Brexit should be allowed to get in the way, and that the future of the most vulnerable in society must be protected.
Finally, a meeting was called and a solution reached. The solution? To ignore the tribunal hearings and continue to underpay care workers. The GMB union, who represents care workers is in the process of consulting with lawyers.
The question was asked as to whether the government could legally ignore a judgement, without a parliamentary vote?
Although this has been called a 'temporary measure' by the department, to make the already low paid care workers take the strain is sinking beneath that level. This measure is due to be reviewed in October, although there is no guarantee that any money will be paid out.
Although Theresa May placed solving the social care crisis high on her priority list, it seems that the whole solution has literally blown up and become politically toxic. The problem has been dumped in the 'too difficult to deal with right now' tray, and that is where it is likely going to stay.
Care workers in the West Midlands spoke of the increased hardships of trying to provide good care. This is becoming increasingly difficult with staff constantly being cut back to save money.
It seems that it is quite normal to have a ratio of 4 staff to every 22 residents in many care homes, although this is often reduced to 2 or 3 when caring for incapacitated, or mentally ill clients.
Care workers said that in situations like this, residents can turn very nasty or violent. Urinary Tract Infections make them become deranged and lash out at staff. It is not surprising that there is a desperate shortage, and huge turnover of staff in nursing homes.
A former care worker, Gavin Davies, now a GMB officer, said that performing a 'sleep-in' did necessarily not mean that the carer worker got any sleep, as dementia clients do not know night from day. More often, things happen in the night, with lots of epilepsy incidents and accidents.
Mr Davies made the comment that the care workers who did these sleep-ins, caring for disabled people are the people who are now paying for the lack of funds in social care. These people are now £400m out of pocket, and may never get paid.
Derek Lewis responded by saying that while he recognised that care workers do outstanding work, and are also the lowest paid, it is impossible to pay them if the money is not available.
Yet again, it seems that austerity measures taken by the government will hurt those who earn the least.
