For consultation with members
- INTRODUCTION
This pay claim is submitted by UNISON on behalf of staff working for Cera Care on the Plymouth Extra Care Contract.
The claim is set at a level that we believe recognises the following key points:
- Substantial increases in the cost of living over recent months have significantly reduced the value of staff wages and the rise in prices facing workers is now at a 40-year high;
- Appropriate reward is needed to sustain the morale and productivity of staff in their crucial role of delivering high quality services;
- Appropriate reward is needed for the increased workload and stress placed on staff;
- Average earnings and pay settlements are surging across the economy, adding to the problem of rates running ahead of those received by Cera staff over recent years and increasing the likelihood of recruitment and retention problems in the long term;
- Cera staff doing a very similar job in the community team have had a small raise creating a potential equal pay issue;
- Nobody should be paid less than the nationally recognised Living Wage rate, which has become a benchmark for the minimum level of decent pay across the UK and is now paid by large sections of the public services and many major private companies. This currently runs at £9.90 but a new rate will be announced on 22nd September
2. SUMMARY OF CLAIM
We are seeking:
- A £1 an hour increase on all post relating to this contract so that a basic care worker rate rises to £10.50 and those who work within the management of these contracts retain their differentials.
- An allowance for weekend and night working to be re-introduced at a level equivalent to that paid to staff working on other contracts.
- An overtime rate of time and a half on all hours over 40 in a given week.
- Trade Union recognition on all Plymouth Contracts with collective bargaining on future annual pay rises
- An annual pay rise implemented by agreement in the 1st April each year
- ECONOMIC BACKGROUND
Inflation is currently running at 11.8% (the highest level in four decades) and for the value of staff wages not to fall back even further, they must at least keep pace with predicted rises in the cost of living, which Treasury forecasts put at 9.1% in 2022 .
Staff are experiencing an enormous surge in costs, including:
- A 99% increase in gas bills;
- A 54% increase in electricity bills;
- A 41% increase in petrol prices;
- A 13% rise in the price of buying a house and 11% rise in rent for a new rental property.
These demands on pay packets will be even greater against the background of the 1.25% increase to National Insurance contributions over 2022/23.
The ability of Cera to attract and retain staff in the long term will be damaged if the pay of its staff falls behind the going rate in the labour market.
Average earnings growth across the economy is currently surging ahead at 6.2% and the Bank of England’s latest survey of employers found that companies expect pay awards in 2022 to lie between 4% and 6%[1], prompting the Monetary Policy Committee to estimate that underlying pay growth would reach 5% in the coming months
Vacancy rates across the economy are at their highest level in over two decades, providing staff with substantial alternative areas of employment.
- LIVING WAGE BECOMING STANDARD MINIMUM PAY BENCHMARK
The Living Wage has become a standard benchmark for the minimum needed for low-paid staff to have a “basic but acceptable” standard of living.
Cera is now competing in a labour market where the Living Wage of £9.90 an hour outside London and £11.05 an hour in London is being overtaken by events and £10.50 has become an increasingly common minimum point in the pay scale in our region. When the new Living Wage rate is announced on 22nd Sepember we expect it to be in excess of this.
Studies supported by Barclays Bank have shown that Living Wage employers report an increase in productivity, a reduction in staff turnover / absenteeism rates and improvements in their public reputation.
Consequently, there are now over 10,000 employers accredited as Living Wage employers by the Living Wage Foundation, including almost half of the largest companies listed on the UK Stock Exchange and household names such as Barclays, HSBC, Nationwide, Google and IKEA are among them.
Across the public sector, the Living Wage has now long been set as the minimum pay rate across all Scotland’s public sector organisations and this was extended to social care workers in Scotland’s private and voluntary sector from October 2016. The Welsh Government has committed to achieving the same goal in social care by 2024.
With vacancy rate highest in low paying sectors, most of the major supermarket retailers have also lifted their starting rates to at least £10 an hour.
6. RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION
Staff in all the schemes report high turnover and shortages and Cera was recently required to return 400 care hours to the city council as they were unable to find the staff to fill the contracts. Money is only part of the story; Union recognition could help rebuild trust between management and staff and stem the exodus
Working against a background of tight budgets and the unprecedented demands of the Covid-19 pandemic over the last year, staff have been facing greater workload pressures. The resulting increased stress puts the morale of the workforce at risk and poses a long-term threat to Cera’s ability to provide a consistent quality of service.
- CONCLUSION
There can be no doubt that all Extra Care staff have seen the value of their earnings fall considerably over recent years and evidence suggests that they are also falling behind earnings for comparable jobs.
Combined with these developments, the last year has seen intensified pressures placed on staff at the same time as greater job choices are opening up for staff in an improving labour market.
Therefore, this pay claim represents a very reasonable estimate of the reward staff deserve for their dedication, skill and hard work and the minimum improvement in pay needed to maintain workforce morale for delivering consistently high-quality services.
UNISON now believe they represent more than half of the Plymouth workforce and so could legally require recognition. However by connecting recognition to this pay calim we are offering a hand of partnership to Cera to help them move from the employer under the most scrutiny by Commisioners that everybody wants to leave to the employer of choice in Plymouth
[1] Bank of England, Agents’ Summary of Business Conditions, Q1 2022
