Time To Be Bold: Care union urges MSPs to support call for £15 an hour social care minimum wage

GMB Scotland is urging all MSPs to support its campaign for a £15 an hour minimum wage for care workers.

In a letter to political party leaders ahead of a Scottish Parliamentary debate on the Independent Review of Adult Social Care this afternoon (Tuesday 16 February), the union calls on MSPs to grasp “a once in a generation opportunity to transform social care” by underpinning reforms with “proper value for the workers who will deliver it.”

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport Jeane Freeman MSP will lead the debate for the Scottish Government and recommend the incoming Scottish parliament should implement the findings of the Independent Review “as quickly as practicable”, with opposition MSPs lining-up to back GMB’s pay increase plan for the sector.

The union’s ‘Fight for Fifteen’ campaign was launched following the publication of its sector report, ‘Show You Care: Voices from the frontline of Scotland’s broken social care sector’, which highlighted the significant challenges facing care workers before and during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

GMB Scotland’s Women’s Campaign Unit Organiser Rhea Wolfson said: “The recommendations of the independent review are a once in a generation opportunity to transform social care, but only if they are underpinned by proper value for the workers who will deliver them.

“The report is clear that every £1 spent on social care generates £2 for the wider economy, so if government and industry invest properly in this sector and its people, the effects could be transformative not just for workers and service users, but for society too.

“COVID-19 has exposed how poorly our care workers have been valued, a workforce of mainly low-paid and often exploited women who found themselves on the frontline of a crisis without proper safety or support.  

“We owe them a huge debt and if we really want to put care on an equal footing with the NHS as the Cabinet Secretary suggests, then we have to back that up with the investment to match.

“Now is the time to be bold and today Holyrood can rise to the challenge. That’s why we are urging MSPs to stand with our members in care and support their campaign to fight for fifteen.”