Page 2 - Unfair To Care Scottish Supplement 2023

INTRODUCTION FROM TERESA EXELBY
CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER AT COMMUNITY INTEGRATED CARE
In December 2022, Community Integrated Care launched Unfair To Care 2022/23. This built on our original research with global experts in job evaluation – Korn Ferry – providing a first of its kind assessment of the role of a frontline Support Worker and their rates of pay.
Using Korn Ferry’s industry-leading methods, this in-depth
and illuminating research demonstrated that, far from being low-skilled, the Support Worker role is a highly responsible, complex and accountable one, requiring a wide range of rare vocational qualities and technical skills.
Shockingly, the research further demonstrated that
many Support Workers would be paid significantly more in comparable roles within the public sector and NHS. In fact, in 2022, the pay gap between an average Support Worker in England and the equivalent role of a Band 3 Worker in the NHS, amounted to a staggering 41% or £8,000 a year.
Disappointingly, at the time of publishing Unfair To Care
22/23, we were unable to access any current, accurate data on average pay rates in Scotland. As a proud provider of support to more than 300 people, and employing 1000 caring and committed colleagues in Scotland, we were keen
to rectify this.
Therefore, I am delighted to now be able to share with you this special Supplementary Report, which illustrates the current pay gap in Scotland, using data generously collated by our partners, the Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland (CCPS).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the figures show that the median hourly rate amongst CCPS’s 93 members aligns with the minimum rate of £10.50. This is the legal requirement for care workers set by the Scottish Government, a move which for many, showed a clear commitment to improve social care in Scotland.
However, just like with our comparisons south of the border, when we review this data in the context of the Unfair To Care research, we still see significant gaps between Support Worker pay and pay for roles of equivalent size in the NHS and public sector in Scotland – 21% or £4,330 when compared with the NHS Band 3 Worker. (And this figure would be significantly more if we factor in the additional allowances, premiums and pension contributions we know come as part of the NHS Agenda For Change pay scale.)
Using the Korn Ferry evaluation method, we’ve also been
able to compare roles of the same size within the Retail industry in Scotland – the vast majority of which have a reference to ‘management’ or ‘leadership’ within their job titles, demonstrating not only a pay gap, but also a gap in the level of respect extended to that of a Support Worker.
We are hugely supportive of the attempts by the Scottish Government to properly pay and professionalise the role of
a care worker, which have manifested in a sector which is broadly better funded, has a workforce paid consistently above the national minimum wage, and is both regulated and required to register in order to practice. So, then, how confounding and disheartening that, at a time of extraordinary chronic workforce shortages and an unprecedented cost-of- living crisis, the Scottish Government has chosen to raise the minimum sector rate by only 3.8% to £10.90 from April onwards.
In fact, the recent NHS pay deal from the Scottish Government, of a 6.5% pay rise to comparable roles in the NHS, means that from April, the gap between roles of the same size – and ultimately funded from the same public funds – will grow from 21% to 24% or £5,164 a year.
I will end by encouraging you to read the full Unfair To Care report, in conjunction with this supplementary data set; it provides the complete context to this work, case studies of
real lives impacted by this crisis and importantly, sets out the changes that we believe millions of people urgently need to see. We hope that in some way, this research shines a much-needed spotlight on the painfully unfair treatment of the social care sector and helps accelerate the change required so that it is no longer unfair to care.
Finally, thank you to the CCPS, its member organisations and Scottish Care for your vital contributions to this work.