Charity CEO: The social care workforce is over-challenged and under-appreciated

COMMUNITY Integrated Care’s report ‘Unfair To Care’ underlines the skill and complexity of frontline work in social care and provides yet further evidence of the profound need for social care funding to appropriately reflect the true cost of delivering quality care and support.

This is according to Kirsty Matthews, CEO of national learning disability charity Hft, in response to Community Integrated Care’s latest findings.

“The ‘Unfair To Care’ research reveals the extent to which funding just doesn’t reflect the complexity and skill of work in our sector and makes any competitive rise in staff pay almost impossible until the Government commits to more funding.

“Of greatest concern is the ‘talent drain’ caused by uncompetitive wages. This was highlighted by our own Sector Pulse Check research which found that vacancies in the learning disability care sector were at 16% in 2021. When asked what would alleviate this challenge, providers overwhelmingly cited an increase in pay,” explains Ms Matthews.

“Care providers are caught in the middle because they are beholden to cash-strapped local authorities for funding and are facing other non-negotiable cost pressures such as increased energy bills. This makes any competitive rise in staff pay almost impossible until the Government commits to more funding.

“People who choose to work in social care perform a vital role in supporting people with a learning disability to live, work and lead as independent a life as possible. Hft would like to see decisive steps taken by central Government to ensure local authorities receive sufficient funding to pay providers the true cost of care in the long term, including increased wages for our invaluable staff who provide such an important service,” says Ms Matthews.

“This is essential to ensure the sustainability of our sector, and to provide a more secure future both for social care staff and those who receive support.”