Page 43 - Unfair To Care 2024 - Who Cares Wins

SIN 3. UNFAIR PAY COMPARED TO THE NHS
THERE IS A COMMON MISCONCEPTION THAT SOCIAL CARE IS THE LESS SKILLED COUNTERPART OF THE NHS.
INCREASINGLY COMPLEX
Unfair low pay simply does not reflect the true skill, complexity, and responsibility of the role of the frontline care and support worker.
There is a common misconception that social care is the less skilled counterpart of the NHS, with social care workers implementing basic and administrative tasks, whilst the NHS delivers clinical and complex work.
However, the independent assessment of the support worker role, carried out by global experts in job evaluation experts, Korn Ferry, proved unequivocally that the role
is a highly skilled and technical one. And equivalent
to that of an NHS Band 3 member of staff whose pay,
at the midpoint, is 10% higher, or 36% higher when factoring in their total average take home pay.
This is clearly unfair and the Future Social Care Coalition40, a cross-party alliance of care sector organisations – employers, trade unions, user voice groups, and care commissioners
– have called for an immediate increase in the pay of care and support workers to at least match that of the Real Living Wage, and then go on to achieve pay parity with the NHS,
as well as the development of a robust plan and structure for the care workforce – a new Social Care People Plan.
The skills needed to work in social care are reflected in
Community Integrated Care’s Capability Framework,
which gives colleagues specific training and development built around the core needs of the people they support. With over 180 modules, every employee in a Supported Living Support Worker role is expected to have skills in areas such as communication, relationships, community connection, and sensory and support environment.
Beneath these category titles are some weighty training and development requirements, such as being able
to understand and handle behaviours of concern including apathy, self-harm, suicide, memory
loss, sexualised behaviour, suspicions, paranoia, delusions, manipulation, hoarding, and more.
The framework details how, depending upon the circumstances, Support Workers should be able to handle medication, including oral, invasive, nasal, ear and eye administration, intradermal administration and subcutaneous administration. They are required to exhibit a high level of competence in providing comfort and personal care, aiding breathing, and occasionally handling terminal sedation and verification of death.
And of course, they must bring their full personal energy, skill, life experience, and sense of vocation to bear, in order to support people to lead the best life possible.
When you consider that these are the specific workplace skills that a Support Worker needs, you understand why frontline social care is assessed as being a skilled, accountable, and demanding role, with parity to the NHS Band 3 position.
WORKING IN SOCIAL CARE HAS BECOME INCREASINGLY DEMANDING IN RECENT DECADES. TO A LARGE DEGREE, THIS IS REFLECTIVE OF THE SHIFT IN TECHNICAL AND CLINICAL SERVICES AND SUPPORT, FROM THE NHS TO THE CARE SECTOR.
SECTION 6: THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS
40. ’It’s time to fix social care for good’, Future Social Care Coalition, 2023
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