Carers in Suffolk may soon get paid for hours they're travelling during work

Currently, carers aren't paid for time spent travelling

Endeavour House in Russell Road, Ipswich
Author: Sian RochePublished 9th Nov 2022

Carers in Suffolk may soon get compensated for hours they spend travelling to patients.

Currently, carers aren't paid for time spent travelling, but Suffolk County Council are now looking into how much it would cost to do so.

The plans are an attempt to combat declining recruitment and retention of carers in the area.

The scrutiny committee of Suffolk County Council proposed that the cabinet member for adult care, Cllr Beccy Hopfensperger, consider how much enabling care providers to compensate staff for unpaid hours would cost the council.

The suggestion came in response to declining recruitment and retention of staff providing adult care. The number of vacant adult social care roles in Suffolk increased by half between 2021 and 2022.

Prema Fairburn-Dorai, chair of Suffolk Association of Independent Care Providers and director of a home care provider, said: “I feel lucky to get one or two people recruited per month, and staff members are leaving at a rate of two to three every month. That is how bad it is.

“The main reason people are leaving now is because their pay isn’t enough and the costs are rising. People are looking to see where they can get a little more money.

“Fuel is another big problem because home care providers spend a lot of time driving. We pay mileage, but it is still not enough.

“People often say care providers are doing it for the profit but they are basing this view on some of the big organisations. It is not the case with the smaller to medium sized ones.”

The scrutiny committee also suggested the council’s chairman and vice chairman write to the minister for health and social care to express concerns about the ways in which social care is funded and provided.

Scrutiny committee recommendations are not enforceable, so there is no guarantee they will be taken on board.

Oonagh Smyth, the CEO of Skills for Care, a planning body for adult social care in England, said: “Social care is a fundamental part of all our communities and most people who work in social care find it incredibly rewarding.

“We must talk more about how rewarding it is to work in social care to attract more people into the profession.

“And we must make it easier for the people who love working in social care to stay by improving terms and conditions and investing in their career development.

“The government’s ‘people at the heart of care’ white paper committed to investing in knowledge, skills, health and wellbeing, and recruitment policies to improve social care as a long-term career choice.

“The implementation of the commitments in that white paper have never been more important.

The ‘people at the heart of care’ white paper was published in 2021. It set out a ten-year vision for social care, alongside plans to spend money towards this within the first three years.

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