Unlock Editor’s Digest Lock for Free
According to a trade group that says the practice amounted to “state-sponsored exploitation,” more than a quarter of homework contracts provided by UK local governments do not cover the cost of hiring staff at a minimum wage.
The Association of Housing Affairs, representing 2,200 providers across the UK, said 27% of local governments pay hourly rates of less than £22.71. It says there is a minimum amount needed to cover statutory employment costs such as wages, training and travel time. This added that it “nothing” of other regulated operating costs.
Jane Townson, the association’s chief executive, said low-cost interest rates “make modern slavery possible,” and the minister’s plan to introduce fair pay contracts in the sector with hourly minimum wages of £13 to £15 is “fantasy.”
Care providers are angry that they are being criticized by the minister for exploitative practices within the sector, which are considered an inevitable consequence of funding shortages.
Based on the changes to immigration rules announced last month, care providers will no longer be able to recruit overseas workers in accordance with extensive evidence that Visa Route, which opened in 2022, was abused by an employer who failed to provide work on the promised terms.
The government wants to raise sector salaries and standards by introducing new mechanisms for collective bargaining in the sector, supported by the Workers’ Rights Act.
However, a review of the long-term funding for the sector set by Health Secretary Wes Streeting on trains will not close until 2028. Meanwhile, review negotiations on funding for local governments are on the back of strict financial constraints.
Recommended
The Home Care Association warned that new pressure on council funding will cause more providers to drop the publicly funded care market. The minister hopes to ring social care budgets, inject additional funds and overhaul local government commissioning practices. Therefore, providers serve clusters of clients in small geographical areas, reducing staff costs and travel time.
More than half of care providers had planned to pull contacts back to local or NHS trusts in the fiscal year due to lack of fee interest rates, the association said, with almost three-thirds saying they would not want to accept new publicly funded care packages.
Three-quarters of local governments provided cost uplifts that fell to a 6.7% increase in the minimum wage in April, and the survey was found, with only two of the 123 municipalities abandoning the bumps greater than the 10% increase in cost uplifts that providers faced.
A government spokesman said he is working to tackle the challenges facing social care, providing funding of up to £3.7 billion in 2025/26 to social care authorities. He also said that it has implemented fair pay contracts “to ensure that care professionals are recognized and rewarded.”
