Domiciliary care workers quitting as Department of Health finance support wanes, claim employers
Derisory Department of Health financial support for home care workers is being far outstripped by rising employers’ costs - which is causing many workers to resign and putting pressure on hospital waiting lists, it is reported.
The claims are being made by Pauline Shepherd, CEO of The Independent Health and Care Providers (IHCP) body, which represents over 300 employers of care workers.
The Department of Health, however, has flatly rejected her comments.
Ms Shepherd said the department sets a tariff each year to pay employers of domiciliary care workers – this year it had an increase of 78p per worker.
However the actual increased costs to employers for each worker this year, she said, is actually around £2.50.
The IHCP says employers are unable to absorb the rising costs and carers are leaving the industry in droves.
The result is that even more pressure is being put on hospital waiting lists, because patients cannot be discharged when there are no care packages.
The health minister promised domiciliary care workers the real living wage from September, she said, but then said he was unable to afford it.
Ms Shepherd told the News Letter: “Many care workers are leaving the job to work in hospitality or retail for similar wages but with a much less challenging job.
“We constantly see the backlogs of people not being able to be discharged from hospital, and that's because they can't get home care packages.
“The shift is profound. We have gone from commitments about paying carers the real living wage to a position where providers are questioning whether the tariff safely funds even statutory minimum wage compliance.
“Once statutory increases and employer costs are absorbed, there is zero headroom. Providers cannot absorb unlimited legal cost increases without consequence – they will be forced to choose between reducing or refusing services, breaking the law or potentially facing bankruptcy.”
When MLAs received a 27% pay rise, by comparison, the public “will reasonably question priorities” she added.
However, a spokesman for the Department of Health appeared to reject her claims, and said the increase in tariff takes carers both up to the national living wage and covers all inflationary costs faced by employers.
He said: “It is the department’s view that the homecare annual uplift incorporates the relevant increases to the national living wage and recent changes to employer National Insurance contributions, along with further separate inflationary increases. It is appreciated that any independent provider, based on their local business model, may take a different view.”
He added that recent rises in fuel costs will have an impact on care workers, which is the subject of wider engagement across government.
Deputy chair of Stormont’s health committee, Alliance MLA Danny Donnelly, said: “Domiciliary care workers are responsible for taking care of some of the most vulnerable in our society. They’re a key part of our health service, their work is critical, and they should be paid fairly for it.”
He suggested that the minister could make savings by cutting “the vast amount of waste” in the provision of segregated community care and other services and said he would write to the minister urgently.