Short term bonus’s will do little to stem the flow
Short term bonus’s will do little to stem the flow, without a decent salary for careworkers the sector risks a ‘mass exodus’ of 70,000 careworkers
GMB, the union for social care, has renewed warning that without addressing pay in the sector the recruitment crisis in social care will continue.
The warning follows reports that HC-One is offering registered night nurses a signing bonus of £10,000.
GMB has previously responded to various surveys of care providers showing recruitment is the hardest it has been by warning about the appalling levels of pay.
The union has opposed regulations forcing vaccinations for workers in care homes, which the Government’s own estimates suggest could cause more than 70,000 workers to lose their jobs when there is an ongoing recruitment crisis.
GMB believes the best way to ensure that the sector can recruit and retain workers is by paying the skilled workforce a decent wage for the job they do – at least £15 per hour.
Kelly Andrews, GMB Social Care lead has said:
“Throwing bonuses at people to fix long-term problems within social care, however welcome those one-off payments are for individual workers, is like throwing a deckchair from the top deck of the titanic.”
“The only way providers and government are going to solve the recruitment crisis in care is by paying the workforce a decent salary of £15 an hour.
“As we head towards the end of the year we are likely to see lots more leave the profession – the UK government estimates it could be up to a further 70,000.
“To stop this mass exodus we need the workforce to be priority in any investment in the sector and that means in the workforces pay packets.
“Those that hold the purse strings need to recognise the sacrifices care workers have made and the professional work that has been carried out daily during the pandemic and before under unrelenting pressures. Its time these workers were properly valued. It's long overdue they paid up.”
