UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 23 MARCH 2015
Failing to pay the living wage to care workers risks affecting the standard of care received by vulnerable people, our Head of Social Work has warned.
Responding to a recent report by the Resolution Foundation, which reveals two thirds of all care jobs in the UK are paid below the living wage, Bharat Chauhan said: “Poor wages lead to great personal pressure for care workers. This affects both morale and commitment in the struggle to work and live. This in turn impacts upon the care worker’s effectiveness.”
Barat calls for robust management systems to support, motivate and guide care workers to enhance their effectiveness. There are also calls for a government subsidy for nearly one million underpaid workers, to tackle high turnover and a reliance on agency staff.
"It’s about investing in the workforce and improving wages, as well as providing good training,” Bharat said. “It is poor training and the lack of good and effective supervision that leads to poor quality of care. We need to have more transparent systems in place, and better supervision and guidance for staff, who are often left on their own without access to management and support.”
Bharat has worked closely in recent months with Birmingham City Council, which has been called on to make urgent improvements to its social care provision following a series of failings.
“The local authority has made strides in improving things, but it’s not just about monitoring frontline workers. You have to look at their supervisors and the rest of the management structure up the chain,” Bharat said.
“The findings and recommendations of serious case reviews need to be understood and taken very seriously by all involved. Councils across the country have reacted to the findings, but not always consistently, which goes back to establishing a functional chain of command. If checks and balances are in place with early warning systems, then signals can be identified and addressed at the earliest opportunity.
"Improving the living wage as well as providing a robust support infrastructure would improve worker motivation and commitment, but it must be properly supported by the chain of supervision and management.”
The living wage paid voluntarily by employers and is set at £9.15 an hour in London and £7.85 outside the capital. It is higher than the £6.50 national minimum wage.