Pay rise ‘kick in the teeth’ for social care staff
Social care providers have accused the Government of “sidestepping” the issue of low pay for care staff as it announced pay rises for thousands of key workers in the public sector.
The above-inflation pay rise announced by the Chancellor today will see almost 900,000 workers benefit, with teachers and doctors seeing the largest increase at 3.1 per cent and 2.8 per cent respectively, according to the Treasury.
It also includes police, prison officers, National Crime Agency staff, members of the judiciary, armed forces and senior civil servants, but not nurses and healthcare assistants, who are covered by a three-year pay deal agreed in 2018.
The Institute for Public Policy Research think tank said not including nurses and carers was “unforgivable” and an “unjustifiable snub”.
Dame Donna Kinnair, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said it is not acceptable to make nurses wait a year, adding: “In this year, of all years, it is time to value these professionals and begin to fill the tens of thousands of vacant posts.”
Mike Padgham, chairman of the Independent Care Group, said: “They have put themselves in harm’s way, they deserve something, and this is a kick in the teeth again, about being forgotten yet again, and it beggars belief in that perspective.
“I hope the government will rethink and make sure social care staff get due attention – not just praise but something in their pay packets as well.”
Chief executive of Care England, Professor Martin Green, said: “These past few months have been an incredibly challenging time for our NHS and social care and it is imperative that frontline staff are recognised and rewarded as such.
”We need to ensure that lip service is replaced by action in order to ensure the long term sustainability of the adult social care sector.”
