UNISON, the leading representative for care workers in the UK, is campaigning for higher standards of care across all residential settings.
Everyone in residential and domiciliary care deserves to be supported and properly looked after – irrespective of their wealth, age or disability. For this to happen, care workers must be valued.
Most social care in England is commissioned by local government and delivered by private and independent companies. The system has been run down by a combination of huge funding cuts to councils and profit extraction by some providers.
National standards are not properly enforced and care workers often face poverty wages and exploitation. Pay for care workers is at rock-bottom minimum wage rates, even though it’s a difficult, skilled job that requires them to take on huge responsibilities. Some receive even less because they are not paid adequately for travel time or for overnight sleep-in shifts.
Social care is a cause close to the heart of UNISON’s general secretary Christina McAnea. As a long-term advocate for care workers and co-chair of the Future Social Care Coalition, one of her key priorities is for the union to lead a long-overdue reform of the social care system.
We recognise that care members can find it difficult to participate due to shift patterns, and working unsociable hours and therefore can feel isolated from the wider UNISON membership, particularly those working for private care companies where UNISON is not recognised or those working in domiciliary care in the community.
Here in the Greater London Region, we are working on a number of ways to support our Care members to become active and be able to participate in the union’s campaigns that will help them and their colleague have a voice within the union and be able to participate in a meaningful ways in UNISON campaigns.