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Social care workers are “overburdened with work”, undervalued and have poorer working conditions than in the NHS, Caerphilly’s Senedd Member has said.

Speaking in First Minister’s Questions on Tuesday, October 25, Labour’s Hefin David said he has been talking with former Wales goalkeeper Neville Southall, who is now working for trade union Unison, about trying to get care homes to value their workforce more.

Questioning First Minister Mark Drakeford, Dr David said: “[Mr Southall] said there are a few things that could happen to help things improve.

“First of all, pay. The First Minister has recognised that the real living wage is vital. There is also recruitment, as those people who are working in the care sector are finding that they are overburdened with work.”

He continued: “There are working conditions which lack parity with the NHS. There is trade union recognition, which is vitally important – and overall that amounts to parity of esteem with their fellow NHS workers.

“What Neville Southall told me was that he was finding that people in the care sector were feeling less recognised than their NHS counterparts during the pandemic. So, all of these things together are important.”

In response, the First Minister said Dr David “made a series of important points, all of which I think the Welsh Government would agree with and all are areas in which we continue to make our efforts”.

Mr Drakeford said he would be “very happy” to see whether a conversation between Dr David, Mr Southall and the Welsh Government’s social care fair work forum would be a good way to take forward the points raised.

Talking about what the Welsh Government was doing to address the issues, Mr Drakeford said £43m was going towards paying workers in the sector the real living wage, with an extra £10m going towards helping councils recruit and retain social care workers.

He also said legislation passed by the Senedd to require social care workers to be registered would help “raise the status of the profession” by “opening the door” to career progression and training opportunities.

“There’s a crisis in social care”

Kathryn Stanford, who is the registered manager at Village Support Services, which is a Pontllanfraith-based social care firm, said the issues facing the sector were being felt “across the board”.

Speaking to Caerphilly Observer, Ms Stanford said: “There’s a crisis in social care. We’ve been going 20 years now and the sector has always been short-staffed.

“New people coming in don’t exist and the sector can’t retain staff. There’s a big issue with recruitment too.”

Ms Stanford said her company “does our best” with pay and added: “We’re competitive and pay above the living wage, but it’s the sort of job you only do long-term if you love doing it.

“It’s such a unique role – there’s no other like it. As a carer you have to be all things the person you’re looking after and you have to genuinely be interested in that person. Many people don’t want to do that.

“We always have a job advert running on Indeed, but we’re not having applicants. There’s a lot less interest than there was before Covid.”

Mario Kreft MBE, Chair of Care Forum Wales which represents over 450 private care providers, said: “Neville Southall has got it absolutely right and I agree whole-heartedly with him.

“The majority of social care workers are employed as the result of commissioned services from local authorities and health boards, but we do need to commission in a more intelligent way to recognise the skills they have.

“The government are promoting this notion of a national approach to these matters so we can get everyone recognised.

“Now at last we’ve got everyone in social care up to the Real Living Wage but we need to have parity with the NHS so that health professionals in the care sector are paid the same wage for the same job as those in the NHS.

“They have done an amazing job in the pandemic but it is misguided to think that employers are making these decisions on pay in a vacuum – they are constrained by what their local authority is willing to pay and this varies hugely across Wales.

“It is ultimately why so many people are stuck in hospital. It’s because of a shortage of care workers in Wales and a consequent shortage of m beds in care homes.

“Social care workers are never going to get footballer’s wages but they should have parity with NHS workers doing the same job.”