Social care

Sheriff of Nottingham votes against cuts

On Monday 4 March, Councillor Shuguftah Quddoos, the Sheriff of Nottingham, was the only councillor in the city to vote against the Government-imposed cuts. Her speech was a simple but powerful message to her fellow Labour councillors, delivered to those outside City Hall and later in the council chamber itself. “Kids in care, people in temporary accommodation, vulnerable adults, our social workers, social housing tenants, our charities and volunteers, our artists and protectors of culture, do not have a vote. But I do, and I will vote against this budget today. It’s true that Nottingham has...

Gove sends in Commissioners to raid Birmingham

On 19 September, the ironically titled Levelling Up Secretary, Michael Gove, announced he would be sending in commissioners to take over the running of Birmingham city council. The commissioners will very likely oversee the plundering of Birmingham, with the sale of council assets such as landmark buildings, jobs cuts, and funding cuts that will massively impact the charity sector. Two observations. One, for years the argument from the Labour Right and the official Left has been that Labour councils shouldn't actually resist implementing austerity (as with Lambeth and Liverpool councils in the...

Glasgow care workers strike

Silverline care workers struck at the company’s three care homes in Glasgow (Baillieston,Cardonald and Stobhill) on 5-6 September. An overwhelming majority of the hundred-plus GMB members employed in the three homes had voted to strike in a dispute over pay and terms and pay and conditions. 98% of the votes cast in the ballot backed strike action. Silverline - which took over the homes from the Four Seasons Group, although running them has been outsourced to the Minster Group - had imposed a pay rise of between 8p and 13p an hour - just over 1% at a time of 9% inflation (RPI). In addition...

For a socialised care system!

Social care in the UK is dire. In March 2022, 50% of care workers were on minimum wage or below minimum wage plus 59p an hour . 24% of them are on zero-hours contracts. In the lower pay grades, a majority are part-time, and so often doing more than one job. They face having to do their best in an underfunded service that exploits and demoralises them. Precarious provision of care at unaffordable rates means that they often face abuse from service-users and their families. There is an acute labour shortage (165,000 vacancies) and high turnover (about 29% per year). The system exploits workers’...

The Tories and the uncaring economy

Sue Himmelweit is a feminist economist, emeritus professor of economics at the Open University, and active with the Women’s Budget Group. She talked to Martin Thomas from Solidarity . Jeremy Hunt has call for a report on the increasing levels of “economic inactivity” among working-age people in the UK. I think what he’s looking for ways to tighten up the conditionality in Universal Credit in order to get more people into the labour force. Really the inquiry should be into the conditions under which people can get into the labour market. There are a lot of people waiting for NHS treatment. You...

Bristol care workers strike against pay cuts

Staff at four care homes across the south west have struck from 29 June, with five strike days to date. The staff, employed by the Bristol-based St Monica Trust care company, are facing cuts to night and weekend pay, cuts of sick pay entitlement from six to three months, and reducing hours. This would bring a huge pay cut to many staff, and worse conditions and care as responsibilities are merged and handover time is cut. The staff have been told that if they do not accept they will face “fire and rehire”, and management have refused negotiations. This comes when the charity’s most recent...

NHS and care protests 26 February

Dozens of actions around the country are planned for the 26 February day of action called by Keep Our NHS Public (KONP). The Tories’ Health and Care Bill returns to the House of Lords in March. KONP summarises: “The bill, and the guidance and regulations that come with it, signpost further fragmentation of the NHS, greater privatisation and damage to services and the workforce. “The bill will also provide the legal framework required to implement the 40 or so Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) covering England, which pose a threat not least by allowing the private sector an even bigger role than...

Diary of a health worker: Listening without prejudice

As I write we are in a two week consultation (closing 16 February) to see whether the “no jab, no job” law for health and social care workers will continue, but no clairvoyance is required to know that by the time you read this it will have been scrapped in one of the most dramatic U-turns of this Tory government. The spin will be it is largely because the Omicron variant is so different to Delta, so they were right all along. The reality is over 30,000 staff have left social care since November, tipping a service already in crisis to the brink of collapse. The same was about to happen in the...

Social care: the public service alternative

Really the only good thing about the Tories’ proposals for social care funding is that they are so blatantly not a solution to anything. The door is still open wide, perhaps now even wider, for a labour movement push for a real alternative on this crucial issue, shifting the debate, winning concessions and damaging the government in the process. But at the moment the push is far too weak. Our minimum alternative should be to make social care and support provision a publicly-owned, publicly-provided system, with enough public funding to ensure it is completely free, high quality and provides...

Victory at Sage care home

Strikes by care workers at the Sage care home in north London have won significant pay increases. From 1 December, care workers, domestic, and maintenance staff will receive a pay increase to £10.85 an hour. This represents a minimum pay increase of 11%. All other staff will receive a pay rise of 5%. The dispute at the care home began in March 2020, and has seen workers, who are members of the United Voices of the World union (UVW) strike several times, most recently in October 2021. Trustees of the care home include property magnate Benzion Freshwater, who has a net worth of over £2 billion...

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