December 15, 2022
Last Updated on December 15, 2022
As the cost of living rises, many care workers are finding themselves in a difficult financial situation.
Kevin Shaw, Chief Executive of Hartford Care, reacts to the challenges being faced by today’s care workers and asks what care providers can do to help, following the announcement that Hartford Care is giving all its employees a winter fuel contribution of up to £600.
I think it’s fair to say that care workers can often be treated as second-class citizens in comparison to doctors and NHS nurses. If we look back to March 2020 when ‘Clap for Carers’ began, the focus was on the NHS first – from the rainbow displays adorning the windows to the diversion of PPE from social care into the NHS. While our doctors and nurses undoubtedly deserved all this credit and attention, care workers took a backseat. They were front line throughout the pandemic and the lack of recognition they received was an incredible shame. A nurse in a care home is as valuable as a nurse in the NHS.
At a central government level, care workers are often forgotten – we tend to be last on the list. All care staff still have to wear masks, while nurses in the NHS don’t. The NHS is of course a national institution and people in the UK are quite rightly fiercely protective of it; as a result it is a key political issue and it gets the attention, but is this at the expense of social care?
While there was a shift in perception after the height of COVID-19 and our sector received more respect and recognition, there’s still so much more to be done. I was new to the sector towards the end of the pandemic, but the scars are still very much evident.
The government is falling short
Perhaps most crucial, especially now, is the lack of financial recognition; so many care workers are earning the national living wage, often because funding from local government doesn’t allow providers to pay more (although indeed, a number of care home operators that are funded by high-paying private residents pay high salaries to their senior teams, yet just a minimum wage to their carers). At Hartford Care, we are very proud to be a real living wage employer; we feel that it is the right thing to do for our team.
While appreciation and recognition of the sector is about so much more than money, it’s clear the government is falling short on providing for us financially. Higher weekly fees for local authority-funded rooms would enable operators to pay their staff a real living wage. As it stands, local authorities are trying to put people in nursing homes for less than the cost of actually breaking even. As a result, so many operators cannot pay their teams what they deserve, and are unable to deliver a service that’s so vital. Putting more money into the sector isn’t about bigger profits for the operators, it’s needed for survival in most cases.
Hartford Care’s winter fuel payment
With the cost of living rising, we do not want our workforce to have to decide between eating, heating or funding Christmas. It’s not fair for individuals to be worrying about how they’re going to make their next energy bill payment or being able to afford a bus fare or fuel in their vehicle to get to work.
With this in mind, we made the decision to pay every team member up to £600 to help see them through this winter. We have supportive shareholders who appreciate our long-term view and the hard work of our team members, and we had no challenges from the Board despite the cost to the company of over £400,000. We are true to our values and believe very strongly that our team is our number one customer.
The benefits of this winter fuel contribution payment far outweigh the financial cost to the business. Most importantly, we’re protecting the mental health and wellbeing of our people. However, this is an investment in the business too – in the sustained high quality of our service and happiness of our residents. It’s a win-win situation.
Supporting team members in other ways
We have undertaken a number of initiatives to support our team members this year which don’t necessarily impact the business in the same way financially. We’re now providing meals to everyone on shift, in every care home, regardless of how long their shift is. We had noticed how some team members would simply forgo lunch as the cost of living crisis kicked in. It’s a small gesture for us, but it goes a very long way for our team.
We’ve also set up a free counsellor-led helpline for our team, and we’re in the process of setting up a crisis fund, which will provide interest-free loans to our team members in case of an emergency, for example a broken boiler.
I believe it’s incredibly important for care operators to accept a lesser margin for a short period of time and ultimately have a happier, healthier team. Investing now for the future is vital. As operators, we can – and must – do more.