Commenting on a Policy Exchange report that argues against plans to raise care worker pay, UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said today (Sunday):
“Social care is an essential public service. But the government has treated care as an optional extra, starved the sector of funding and done nothing to end poverty pay for care workers.
“That’s why care companies are really struggling to recruit and keep staff. Social care is in a desperate state and ministers have let the sector’s many problems get a whole lot worse.
“It doesn’t take a degree in rocket science to fathom the solution to the growing care crisis. Only when care workers get decent pay will more people want to work in the sector and the staffing crisis end.
“A fair pay agreement negotiated by government, unions and employers is the most sensible way of doing this.
“It’s a move the public will more than welcome too. People want a quality, national care service and this will be the first step on the road towards achieving that.”
Notes to editors:
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.
Media contacts:
Liz Chinchen M: 07778 158175 E: press@unison.co.uk
Anthony Barnes M: 07834 864794 E: a.barnes@unison.co.uk
The article Raising pay is crucial step in ending social care crisis first appeared on the UNISON National site.
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