The Fair Work Convention today published its report Fair Work in Scotland’s Social Care Sector 2019. The report calls for urgent interventions by policy makers, commissioners and leaders in the social care sector to improve the quality of work and employment for the 200,000 strong workforce in Scotland.
The Scottish Greens have urged the Holyrood government to put fair work at the heart of social care by accepting the report’s recommendations in full.
The report makes five recommendations including for the Scottish Government to support the creation of a new sector body that establishes minimum standards for fair work terms and conditions and to reform social care commissioning.
Fair Work in Scotland’s Social Care Sector 2019
Led by Fair Work Convention members’ Henry Simmons, Chief Executive of Alzheimer Scotland and Lilian Macer, Scottish Convenor, Unison, the Convention’s 18-month inquiry involved research and extensive engagement with stakeholders, including:
• research on the work and employment experiences of front line workers, personal assistants and employers from across the care sector in Scotland; and
• engagement with an expert working group and stakeholders from across the social care sector.
The inquiry found that:
• the social care sector is not consistently delivering fair work;
• the existing funding and commissioning systems are making it difficult for some providers to offer fair work; and
• the social care workforce does not have a mechanism for workers to have an effective voice in influencing work and employment in the sector.
In addition, given the predominance of women workers in the sector, the report also highlights that failure to address issues such as voice deficit and low pay will significantly contribute to women’s poorer quality of work and Scotland’s gender pay gap.
The report reveals that some social care employees do not have secure employment and are expected to work excessive hours in order to take home a fair wage.
The burden of variations in demand for social care is falling heavily on front line staff, who can face zero hour, sessional contracts, working beyond contracted hours and working unpaid overtime to meet the needs of care service users.
The Convention is recommending that the Scottish Government supports a new sector-level body to ensure effective voice in the social care sector. As an immediate priority, this body should establish a minimum Fair Work contract for social care, which should thereafter underpin commissioning of social care services.
Looking forward, this sector-level body could develop a bargaining role in the sector, providing a locus for designing and developing services, training and development and other workforce strategies.
Scottish Greens Health spokesperson Alison Johnstone MSP has called on the Scottish Government to put fair work at the heart of Scotland’s social care sector by accepting in full the recommendations of the Fair Work Convention’s review, Fair Work in Scotland’s Social Care Sector 2019.
The Scottish Greens manifesto for the 2016 Scottish Parliament election recognised the ‘vast mismatch between the value of care and the support carers receive’ and highlighted the need to ‘recognise the humanity people demonstrate every day by caring for people.’ It went on to note that, ‘We want professional caring to be valued and considered an attractive career and to reward unpaid care.’
Commenting on the publication of the review, Lothian Green MSP Alison Johnstone said: “I welcome the publication of the fair work review which seeks to recognise the importance of social care and the need to treat workers with dignity and respect.
“People who care are often undervalued and underpaid. Social care workers do hard and vital work in people’s homes and care homes throughout our communities, but it remains one of the lowest paid sectors, fuelling the gender pay gap.
“I particularly welcome the call for carers to have a greater voice in the design, development and delivery of services. All too often non-unionised, low paid workers can be overlooked when policy is being developed, despite having substantial skills and expertise to offer.
“Greens have repeatedly highlighted the lack of fair work practices in the care sector and I would urge Ministers to adopt the recommendations of this review, as a means to improving conditions for everyone working in the sector.”
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The Scottish Government is expected to respond with proposals later this week.
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