A SOCIAL care provider in Gwent has called for the commissioners of such care to address the issue of low pay for carers and nurses following public sector pay rises in other areas.

According to Care Forum Wales, which represents 500 care homes and domiciliary care companies across Wales, they are being ignored while almost 900,000 public sector workers, including teachers and doctors, are getting above inflation pay rises.

In Wales, pay rates are determined by councils and health boards who set the level of fees that care homes and domiciliary care companies receive.

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As a result, says Care Forum Wales, wage levels have been unfairly suppressed for the last 25 years.

Among those who hit out is Sanjiv Joshi, managing director of the Caron Group, which has 14 homes across South and Mid Wales including four in Brynmawr.

“It’s time the people who commission social care services in Wales, local authorities and health boards, seriously addressed the issue of low pay that has persisted for so long in the sector which means that our carers are paid either at the National Living Wage or very close to it,” he said.

“The chronic underfunding of social care means that their pay rates are based on the statutory minimum wage or close to it. There is very little that providers can do about this.

“Commissioners work within budget restraints so obviously it’s not just their decision - but it would be wonderful if they and the Welsh Government took a different approach to this issue.

“It was great for the First Minister in Wales to make the gesture of acknowledging care workers with the one-off £500 bonus payment but the authorities and the Welsh Government need to review the pay structures so we can pull our care workers out of poverty.

“In Wales we can start the process by eliminating the pay gap for carers, between the public sector and the Independent care sector.

“Belatedly, social care workers were included in the clap for carers but if that isn’t going to be a hollow gesture they need to be recognised in the long term. “

“What we can’t do as a society is clap for them on a Thursday night and shrug our shoulders on a Friday morning when it comes to their pay, otherwise it’s meaningless.

“Social care workers have shown their real value during this pandemic because they’ve been absolutely heroic on the frontline and society acknowledges their contribution.

“There is no one in society who would begrudge them a better status and a better financial settlement than what they have at present.

“We now need people in charge to drive this and I believe this is achievable given the right determination .”

Mario Kreft MBE, who chairs Care Forum Wales, said: “The social care sector is of national strategic importance.

“As First Minister Mark Drakeford says, it is the invisible scaffolding that supports the NHS.

“Surely now we have got to recognise the care sector and particularly social care workers for the incredible value they provide for our communities and our society.

“Like the other key workers like teachers and police officers, social care workers deserve an above-inflation pay rise.

“We have got to make sure that working in social care is a career of the highest value.

“Most of the people in care homes in Wales are publicly funded by local authorities.

“After 25 years of local authorities managing the market, we have a very fragile sector that was in a critical state even before the coronavirus pandemic struck.

“As far as they have been concerned, it’s always been about cost rather than value.

“This is the time for social care to be put on a pedestal alongside the NHS because they are symbiotic – they cannot work without each other.

“People working in social care need to be rewarded like a proper profession instead of being treated like Oliver Twist asking for more gruel.”