OTnews November 2024 | Page 50

UNISON

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Improving services and working conditions in adult social care
More than most staff , occupational therapists know just how much the whole health and care team contribute to holistic patient care . And adult social care workers are vital to this .
In this column , UNISON policy officer Guy Collis looks at our work to improve services and working conditions in adult social care .
The need for action
The social care system is close to breaking point . The combination of years of chronic underfunding and a dysfunctional , underregulated market system means that thousands of elderly and disabled people are unable to get the level of care they need , while money continues to bleed out of the system to profitdriven care providers .
Low pay is endemic in the sector , with nearly half of all adult social care workers in England paid less than the real living wage .
On top of this , too many homecare workers are not paid for their travel time between appointments , too many residential staff do not receive sufficient pay for doing ‘ sleep-in ’ shifts at their place of work , and the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted just how many care workers are not even able to access proper sick pay .
Insecure employment is another problem , with around a quarter of the total workforce on
zero-hours contracts , including around half of the homecare workforce .
Many care workers suffer from insufficient access to training , and a lack of career structure means that progression opportunities remain elusive for much of the workforce .
All in all , it is little surprise that so many care workers vote with their feet and leave their jobs for better paid , less strenuous work elsewhere . The vacancy rate in social care remains one of the highest in any sector of the economy , with more than 130,000 roles currently unfilled in England .
Start with the workforce
There is widespread consensus across the sector that meaningful reform of social care must begin with addressing the workforce crisis – and this is where the fair pay agreement ( FPA ) comes in .
The FPA would be a collective employment agreement across the adult social care sector in England . It would set fair pay , terms and conditions for all social care staff , along with training standards .
Its contents would be negotiated between government , unions and employers . There would be a period of consultation on how the FPA would work .
Similar initiatives have been trialled in other countries , but essentially the intention is to
50 OTnews November 2024