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Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats:Covering the constituencies of Twickenham and Richmond Park |
Tory ‘scrooge’ refuses to pay home care workers a living wage
December 23, 2011 2:04 PM
• [Dec 22]: RICHMOND Council's Tory Cabinet Member for Adult Services has refused to agree that care workers should be paid at least the London Living Wage Instead, Cllr Nicola Urquhart indicated that home care workers could continue to be paid as little as the national minimum wage (£6.08 an hour) when new home care contracts are signed next year.
Liberal Democrat councillors challenged Cllr Urquhart to commit to paying care workers the London Living Wage at the 13th December council meeting in response to the recent critical report by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission into the quality of home care. Cllr Urquhart responded that the new contracts would look only for "compliance with employment law".
The Equalities and Human Rights Commission report, 'Close to Home' said: "the low pay and status of care workers - is in sharp contrast with their level of responsibility and the skills they require to provide quality home care. Poor pay and conditions also affect staff retention, causing a high turnover of care workers visiting older people."
The London Living Wage is determined by the Mayor of London as the wage necessary to provide a minimum acceptable quality of life in London. It is currently set at £8.30 an hour.
Liberal Democrat Leader Stephen Knight said: "This is a Scrooge-like decision from this Conservative council, which is clearly willing to treat care workers in a Dickensian fashion. Home care workers do an incredibly responsible and demanding job all year round supporting vulnerable older residents and deserve a living wage."
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