Moray social care charity unveils £3m frontline pay boost
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A SOCIAL care charity operating in Moray has announced a pay boost for its frontline support workers.
Community Integrated Care (CIC), which has a facility in Fochabers, has unveiled a package which will see support staff paid £11 per hour in Scotland and £10 per hour in England from April 1.
The uplift, which is the second in six months for CIC’s 5000 strong workforce, will see the charity pay more than both the government’s National Living Wage and the voluntary real Living Wage as recommended by the Living Wage Foundation.
The move represents a further £3 million investment from the organisation, in addition to £5 million already spent improving employee pay, reward and wellbeing in autumn 2021, reflecting the charity’s commitments to frontline recognition under its new Best Lives Possible five-year strategy.
As the UK faces a looming cost-of-living crisis, with the price of goods, energy and household bills continuing to climb and inflation at a 30-year high, it is hoped that the rise will help alleviate some of the worry facing CIC’s frontline workforce.
This industry-leading rate of pay means that a frontline Support Worker in Scotland working 40 hours per week will now receive a boost of an extra £1667 per year.
Mark Adams, Chief Executive Officer at Community Integrated Care said: “As the social care sector continues its battle with low pay and skills shortages, our charity is proud to be in a position where we can go some way in fulfilling our commitment to valuing and rewarding our colleagues fairly for the outstanding work they do.
"But we know that for many providers, this is an impossibility, tightly bound by the Government’s funding constraints and a recruitment crisis that is buckling our sector. Whilst short-term tweaks such as scrapping mandatory vaccination and easing immigration, may make headlines, latest figures show that vacancies rose from 9.4 per cent to 9.5 per cent between December 2021 and January 2022 – highlighting that this crisis is neither slowing, or going.
"We urgently need action from central government, including sustainable funding and an effective workforce strategy, to address the significant challenges social care is facing. In the meantime, our charity will continue to campaign for real change, so that these rates become the norm and not the exception in our sector.”
Teresa Exelby, Chief People Officer at CIC, added: “Throughout the most testing two years in recent history, our caring and committed colleagues have continued to provide life-enhancing support to thousands of people in our local communities.
"The world has changed immeasurably within this period and even now, as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, our colleagues are grappling with steep increases to the costs of living, leaving many people understandably anxious about what lies ahead.
"Whilst we know there’s no quick fix to these issues, we hope that this £3 million investment goes some small way in making daily life easier for our teams, demonstrating our commitment to making our Best Lives Possible strategy a reality for not only the people we support, but our colleagues too.”
Community Integrated Care supports 3500 people and employs 5000 colleagues nationally. To find out more about the charity’s vacancies, and what it’s like to work for Community Integrated Care, visit www.workincare.co.uk
The National Living Wage is currently £8.91 per hour, rising to £9.50 on April 1.
