End 'chronic exploitation" of key workers with £15-per-hour wage to stop social care collapse

The union's Show You Care - Voices report talks of Scotland's "broken" social care service even before the coronavirus pandemic taking in the testimony of over 1600 members in a sector where three in four have been considering quitting their jobs.

It warned that that the "exhausted and traumatised workforce" were on average wages around £5 an hour less than the UK average of nearly £15 an hour which was "not credible" adding: "What employer or politician is going to tell them they are worth less than average after all they are doing?"

READ MORE: New alarm over Covid control in care homes after Scots death toll dubbed 'single greatest devolved government failure'

One in five were not on permanent contracts, just less than one in seven work unpaid overtime and 11% were on zero hour contracts.

In calling for a £15-per-hour minimum wage to rescue the in-crisis sector, it revealed four in five of both home care and care home staff feeling undervalued by their management or employer.

And over three in four have considered leaving the care sector because of this sense of undervalued.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic the majority (55%) found the social care role very stressful due to the high demands of the job, with over half 60% citing stress as a reason for thinking of quitting the sector.

It said understaffing and high employee turnover meant that social care workers were looking after too many service users with not enough time allocated to often complex care needs.

And the union warned that low pay and poor contractual right "must be improved" if Scotland's social care recruitment and retention problem is to be solved.

A GMB Scotland spokesman said: "Covid has shifted social care from a crisis to a catastrophe.

"The chief executive of Scottish Care is warning of a recruitment crisis and we’d argue that’s already arrived.

“Unless we are prepared to fundamentally change social care and properly value people to deliver it, the sector will continue its decline to a collapse.

"Scottish society needs and deserves a robust social care system not one that is in permanent crisis."

The study found nearly three-quarters of care staff felt they did not have enough time with service users to deliver compassionate and dignified care while nearly four in five surveyed reported under-staffing in their workplace.

Nearly half of all care workers surveyed said they worked unpaid hours to fulfil their allotted caring duties and over four-fifths believe their industry in Scotland is not properly funded.

The "sobering" testimony from the frontline workers was gathered in the months prior to Covid-19 and as the virus emerged to grip the social care sector by Dr Eddie Donaghy, social science and health services researcher based at the University of Edinburgh, in conjunction with GMB Scotland’s Women’s Campaign Unit. It added to 24 interviews with a wide-range of social care workers from across Scotland during lockdown.

The union said during the coronavirus crisis it was only on June 25, that social care workers were finally afforded proper sick pay.

A GMS survey of its social care membership found that over 75% of workers were scared to be tested for fear of testing positive and having to be off work and receive only statutory sick pay of less than £96 a week.

It comes a matter of days after new concerns surfaced in a report about the pace of improvement on coronavirus infection in Scotland's care homes after a series of failures led to a death toll in Scotland's care homes described as "the single greatest failure of devolved government".

An analysis by leading care expert Nick Kempe claims that since their previous inspection, as many care homes have deteriorated as have improved and that generally standards of infection control remain "worryingly low".

The report published by respected think tank Common Weal was critical of the Care Inspectorate for the "slow and seemingly random" way in which care homes are being reassessed in the light of the Covid death toll and shows a "mixed but often dispiriting picture" from the data available.

Mr Kempe, who was once head of service for older people in Glasgow and played a central role in the development of the National Care Home Contract has previously documented how a failure to implement any of the warnings on pandemic preparation, the weakness of the inspection and enforcement regime in Scotland, the long-term running-down of the provision of medical services in care homes, the refusal to intervene early in the crisis and the "serial failures" on PPE and testing inevitably led to the current death toll.

More than 2000 have so far died in Scotland's 1142 care homes during the Covid-19 pandemic.

GMB Scotland organiser Rhea Wolfson said: “Our social care sector’s greatest asset is its workforce but what Covid-19 has exposed to everyone is how poorly valued they are by their employers and government, a fact that is evidenced by our members in this report.

“But let’s be clear that the industry and politicians already understood pre-Covid the chronic exploitation of what is a predominantly women workforce; mired in low pay, precarious conditions, under resourced, overworked and a broken model of funding.

“Despite warnings, the failure to tackle these underlying diseases ultimately contributed to the lack of preparedness that resulted in the scandal of care workers left without proper PPE while NHS patients were put into their workplaces without proper testing."

The concerns comes as Public Health Scotland data shows that by 2035 there will be approximately 740,000 people aged 75 years and over in Scotland - a 68% increase on 2015.

And Audit Scotland estimates an increase of 18-29% in demand for health and social care services in Scotland by 2030 as people live longer into older age but with more complex health conditions, notably long-term illnesses such as diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Around one in 13 workers in Scotland works providing social care to the elderly, disabled or vulnerable people. According to an independent report from the Fair Work Convention last year, 83 per cent of them are women, but their employment is often unfair.

READ MORE: Social care staff in Scotland get pay rise to real living wage

It said many social care employees did not have secure employment and are expected to work excessive hours in order to take home a fair wage. They face problems including zero hour contracts, sessional contracts, working beyond contracted hours and working unpaid overtime to ensure clients receive the care they should.

Becca Young, policy and research manager for Scottish Care emphasised the importance of valuing social care meaning investing in social care workers.

“We believe social care is undervalued and under-recognised and the profile it does have doesn’t recognise what that sector provides. [It] impacts on commissioning and procurement processes and we believe these processes have not worked effectively in developing social care models that value the right things -quality, innovation and development."

Two years ago, a Scottish Care survey warned of a recruitment and retention "crisis" with a nursing vacancy rate of 20% "equivalent to having no NHS nurses at all in the whole of the Western Isles, Shetland and Orkney put together" and that they were losing nearly 2/3rds of care staff within the first six months of their employment.

One of those who spoke about their experiences was Alison, a care home worker in the west of Scotland for over 25 years, who spoke of the changes in terms and conditions that regularly occur.

She said: "We’re the only people who don’t get a full-time contract anymore. Not one of our new girls have been taken on with a decent contract for years and years. Most people are on 25 hours a week, contracts with no holiday pay and stuff like that…. it’s a fly move!

"The job demands are high, wages are low, and contracts are terrible. That’s one of the reasons people keep leaving. They see a better paid job with less hassle and a better contract elsewhere."

Professor Patricia Findlay, a professor of work and employment relations at Strathclyde University and a co-chair of the Fair Work Convention highlighted the importance of improving terms and conditions for social care workers not just for the workforce itself but for the sustainability of the sector.

“One of the things we’ve learned from the lockdown is that social care can’t be a poor relation to the NHS, not least because of the knock-on effect it has on the NHS.

"Good government is about providing good services efficiently, and cost does matter. However, controlling costs and spending shouldn’t be based on squeezing the terms and conditions of social care workers because that’s inconsistent with fair work which we have a commitment to in Scotland.

It’s inconsistent with providing a quality care experience and ensuring the sustainability of that sector."

 Scottish Government spokesman said: “Scotland’s dedicated social care workers are on the frontline of our national pandemic response and their work is hugely valued.

“Social care workers have a range of employers who, as in other sectors, determine their terms and conditions. However, earlier this year the Scottish Government provided additional funding of £8.8 million for social care support staff to receive a 3.3% pay increase dated from 1 April, as part of a package of measures to support social care workers.

“The move, agreed between the Scottish Government and COSLA, is part of a package of measures to support social care workers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which also includes the Social Care Support Fund, to ensure that social care workers do not experience financial hardship.”