Last week at the meeting of the full council, Salford City Mayor, Ian Stewart, and his sidekick Assistant, Councillor Paul Dennett, made speeches/Labour Party political broadcasts about how the Council looks after its staff and the city's vulnerable people, to great cheers from their own councillors.
All this against a background of the constant privatisation of adult care services and hundreds of adult care jobs either axed or transferred to the private/third sector. The speeches were also made against the shocking statistic that Salford Council's Adult Social Care budget accounts for just 22% of its overall budget...the second lowest in the whole of the North West. The average is 32%.
Salford has the Mayor's Charter for Employment Standards, the Living Wage Charter, and finally signed the Disabled Children's Charter this month, at the fourth time of asking (see here). Yet Salford Council still hasn't signed the Ethical Care Charter, introduced by trade union UNISON over two years ago, imploring local authorities to become ethical care councils.
The Charter was born from UNISON research reflecting the appalling state of homecare services in the UK...
Call cramming: 79.1% of respondents reported that their work schedule was arranged in such a way that they either had to rush their work or leave a client early to get to their next visit on time. 56% of respondents were low paid, leading to high staff turnover as workers could not afford to stay in the sector. Clients therefore have to suffer a succession of new care staff. 57.8% of respondents were not paid for their travelling time between visits, meaning even less take home pay.
... 36.7% of respondents reported that they were often allocated different clients, affecting care continuity and the ability of clients to form relationships with their
care workers. This is crucial, especially for people with such conditions as dementia. 52.3% reported that concerns about clients were `only sometimes' acted on, highlighting a major potential safeguarding problem. Only 43.7% saw fellow
homecare workers on a daily basis at work, leading to staff isolation and low morale. And 41.1% were not given specialist training to deal with their clients specific medical needs, such as dementia and stroke related conditions.
Commenting on its survey, the UNISON report berated "a disturbing picture of a system in which the ability to provide some companionship and conversation to often lonely and isolated clients is being stripped away. Some recounted the shame of providing rushed and insufficient levels of care because of the terms and conditions of their job, whilst many detailed insufficient levels of training that they had been given to carry out the role. Others made the point that rushed visits are a false economy leading to a greater likelihood of falls, medication errors and deterioration through loneliness."
"...Some homecare workers were doing tasks and errands for their clients in their spare time, despite the seemingly best efforts of the current care model to strip away any sense of personal warmth or humanity" it added "Homecare workers are personally propping up a deteriorating system of adult social care, but they are being pushed to breaking point...For the system to work it needs to be underpinned by adequate funding and a workforce whose terms and conditions reflect the respect and value they deserve. Crucially they must be given the time to care."
The UNISON response was the Ethical Care Charter upon which councils pledged to commission care only from providers who will:
schedule visits so that homecare workers are not forced to rush their time with clients or leave their clients early to get to the next one on time
match the time allocated to visits to the particular needs of the client
allocate clients the same homecare worker wherever possible
use contracts that are appropriate for individual homecare workers
pay the Living Wage
pay homecare workers for expenses such as their travel time and travel costs
Many councils have signed the Charter, including Lancashire County Council, Renfrewshire Council, Camden, Reading and Southwark Council. Yet Salford City Council, which is forever banging on about its Mayor's charters, has yet to sign up.
"Making this commitment to decent employment conditions for care workers is all about improving the quality of life for the people they care for" says UNISON's head of local government Heather Wakefield "A living wage and more secure employment make it possible for dedicated care workers to stay in the job and focus on giving the best possible care."
The Charter is being backed by Bolton Labour MPs David Crausby and Yasmin Qureshi, yet Salford's MPs and Mayor and `Humanegement Mayor' are strangely silent on the issue.
Last week, as Salford Council privatised almost the last remnants of its adult social care services into the mutual Aspire (see previous Salford Star article click here), Salford City UNISON branch secretary Steven North implored the signing of the Charter to protect staff and clients in the future when the Council's guaranteed contract runs out...
"All too often the setting up of a social enterprise is the first step to outright privatisation and we are concerned that in three years' time Aspire could find itself the losing party in a bidding war with a private sector care organisation that can deliver this service for less money because it pays bargain basement wages and subjects its clients to fifteen minute-only visits" he said
"It is now the duty of Salford City Council to ensure that doesn't happen" he added "In our view the most practical way it could do this is by adopting UNISON's Ethical Care Charter. Doing so would ensure that the provision of services for vulnerable people could only ever be delivered by organisations that pay the Living Wage, that properly train their staff and that treat their clients with human decency. If the Council wants this social enterprise to succeed it will adopt the Charter."
Salford City UNISON is now publicising an e-petition on Salford Council's website which it is urging all residents and union members to sign. It states...
`We the undersigned petition Salford City Council to sign up to UNISON's Ethical Care Charter. UNISON's Ethical Care Charter calls for decent standards of employment for care workers, whether they work directly for a local authority or for a company that is contracted by them.
The Charter guarantees workers: Time to talk to clients; Paid travel time; The Living Wage; Sick Pay; Proper Training
These things are good for clients as well as staff and we hope Salford Council will show its commitment to the most vulnerable and those who care for them by joining other councils, such as Lancashire County in signing up.'
To sign the petition click here
To read the full Ethical Care Charter - click here
* See also previous Salford Star article: Salford Pensioners in line for £500,000 cuts - click here
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