Backing for Carer Recruitment Campaign
But call for staff to be better rewarded
CARE providers have today joined a campaign to recruit more staff into the sector across North Yorkshire.
But they have also warned that more needs to be done to make care a more rewarding profession to join.
Provider organisation, The Independent Care Group (ICG) is working with North Yorkshire County Council’s ‘Make Care Matter’ campaign to recruit more people into the care of our oldest and most vulnerable. Like the rest of the country, the county is currently suffering from a shortage of care staff.
ICG Chair Mike Padgham said: “We are 100% with North Yorkshire County Council’s efforts to attract more people into adult social care – it is a vital and rewarding profession, which plays a huge part in maintaining the quality of life of many thousands of people. Anything that helps to attract more people to join the profession is to be welcomed with open arms.
“The shortage of staff in the social care sector is becoming critical and we are pleased to work with the county council and support its campaign to bring more people into this very rewarding, vital service.
“The name of the campaign says it all, as care does matter, very, very much. We have to work together to bring more people into this wonderful sector and to persuade the Government that it needs to support the sector more.”
He said the Government needed to do more to better fund social care so that those working in it can get better pay, terms and conditions.
“At the end of last year, the Government’s own report into care market sustainability reported that care providers were not being paid enough to provide care and that has a huge impact on our ability to recruit and retain staff.
“Social care desperately needs root and branch reform and an integral part of that reform will be ensuring there is enough funding within the sector to pay social care staff what they deserve,” he added.
“They do a fantastic job but at the moment are undervalued and underpaid. Care commissioners, like local authorities, do not have enough money to pay providers fairly for the care they commission and so there isn’t enough funding for them, in turn, to pay staff better.
“Until the Government provides more funding for care, we will always have issues with recruiting staff into the profession – it is time they got the recognition, respect and reward they deserve.”
The ICG recently wrote to the Health Secretary for a second time, appealing to him to tackle the social care staffing crisis.
In the short term, it called for the Government to set up an emergency team of volunteers to step in and help in care settings.
“Before Covid-19 the sector had around 120,000 care staff vacancies. Due to the upheaval of Brexit, the compulsory ‘no jab, no job’ policy and escalating cases of Covid-19, we are on our knees and we need help,” Mr Padgham added.
