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Advisory Committee Recommends Minimum Pay Rate for Care Workers

Care workers should be paid a higher minimum wage of £10.50 and made permanently eligible for work visas under immigration rules to help tackle staff shortages, according to Government advisers.

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), which briefs ministers on immigration policy, urged the Government to adopt a string of recommendations “as soon as possible” in order to “alleviate the challenges facing the social care sector”.

The fully funded minimum pay rate is one of 19 recommendations in the MAC Adult Social Care and Immigration Report.

Migration Advisory Committee’s (MAC) report into adult social care and immigration
The Committee also recommends that care workers be made permanently eligible for the Health and Care Worker Visa and be kept on the Shortage Occupation List until it is next reviewed.

Other recommendations include the cancelling or significant lowering of health and care worker settlement fees and the removal of the Immigration Skills Charge.

MAC Chair, Professor Brian Bell, said: “The Migration Advisory Committee has put forward 19 recommendations which will help alleviate the challenges facing the social care sector. But we are clear that immigration cannot be a silver bullet to solve the fundamental challenges the sector faces. These challenges result from years of underfunding which predate and dwarf any immigration related factors.

“We urge the government to put our recommendations in place as soon as possible – beginning with the introduction of a minimum rate of pay for care workers in England, removing the immigration skills charge and for the occupation to continue to be placed on the Shortage Occupation List for the foreseeable future.”

Dr Rhidian Hughes, Chief Executive of the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG), said: “The Migration Advisory Committee’s report offers a further wake up call for government. The Voluntary Organisations Disability Group backs the Committee’s recommendation to fully fund a rate of social care pay above the National Living Wage. A fully funded £10.50 per hour social care rate would be a good start, but we know the true value of care work is much more. We need to be ambitious in rewarding talent for much needed social care.”

Vic Rayner OBE, CEO of NCF and member of the social care expert advisory supporting the MAC with this work, said: “While a focus on the minimum pay for care workers in this report is a helpful contribution to this issue, the NCF has consistently called for an independent pay review for social care, which involves employers, commissioners, and employee representatives with a view to implementing a new career-based pay and reward structure which is comparable with the NHS and equivalent sectors and fully-funded by central government.”

UNISON head of social care Gavin Edwards said:
“Ministers have cynically made it difficult for high-skilled, low-paid foreign care staff to work in the UK, even though the sector is crying out for workers. This report is yet another wake-up call for a government that’s been dozing at the wheel for decades. No bluster, no slogans, the government must adopt the MAC’s recommendations now, so the Cinderella care sector can attract the new recruits it needs and retain experienced staff too.”

A government spokesperson said:
“We would like to thank the Migration Advisory Committee for their continued work on this area. “This report calls for cross-Whitehall consideration including on funding for social care, pay, conditions and workforce strategy, alongside immigration policy. “The government will consider the MAC’s recommendations carefully and respond in due course.”

In response to today’s publication of the Migration Advisory Committee’s (MAC) report into adult social care and immigration,
Dr Rhidian Hughes, Chief Executive of the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG), said:

“At the heart of social care is the workforce supporting people to maintain their independence and dignity and working tirelessly to make our lives better and our communities stronger. The very best care and support for disabled and older people who need it most in society is provided by a committed social care workforce. Yet, government’s under-funding of social care holds us back in properly rewarding staff for the valuable work they do. The consequences are that we are not recruiting and retaining sufficient talent in the sector and that risks pulling away essential services for those that need them the most.

“The Migration Advisory Committee’s report offers a further wake up call for government. The Voluntary Organisations Disability Group backs the Committee’s recommendation to fully fund a rate of social care pay above the National Living Wage. A fully funded £10.50 per hour social care rate would be a good start, but we know the true value of care work is much more. We need to be ambitious in rewarding talent for much needed social care.

“We urge government to embrace the Committee’s recommendations. This will require government to release additional funding for the care workforce. At present, charities are prevented from improving pay rates because funding passed down by central government to local authorities falls woefully insufficient.”

 

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