VHS is urging MSPs to ask Ministers to address the pay gap between the adult social care workforce and the children’s social care workforce. An inequity has been created because children’s services have not been included in the recent pay uplift for social care workers, announced by the Scottish Government in the Scottish Budget Announcement on 9th December 2021. For a full-time children’s worker this could mean missing out on £1,200 in pay this coming year unless action is taken.
VHS is asking MSPs to highlight these issues during a Members Business debate on the longstanding underpayment of social care staff. The debate has been tabled by Scottish Labour MSP Alex Rowley and takes place in the Chamber on Thursday, March 10, 2022. VHS’s Parliamentary Briefing sets out the issues and includes a case study from PLUS Forth Valley.
The motion for the Members Business debate is:
“That the Parliament notes the belief that the longstanding underpayment of social care staff should end, and that action must be taken to address the inequalities across the health and social care sector in order to deliver greater dignity and respect within the profession; considers that the rate of pay for social care staff, including in the Mid Scotland and Fife region, does not come anywhere near to recognising the complexities and challenges of the work; further considers that the main underlying cause of recruitment and retention issues in the care sector is a result of poor pay and unequal terms and conditions; condemns what it considers the poor treatment faced by many care workers in the course of their employment, which, it believes, would not be acceptable in any other profession, and notes the calls for all workers being hired directly or indirectly to deliver key public services to be paid the proper rate for the work they undertake”.
