Category: care homes

Boosting sick pay during the pandemic would have helped prevent virus spread

Commenting on evidence from former health and care secretary Matt Hancock to the Covid inquiry about sick pay rates during the pandemic, UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said: 

“It’s a shame Matt Hancock wasn’t as enthusiastic about boosting sick pay when he was in government. 

“Pitifully low rates meant care staff went into work when they had Covid, simply because they couldn’t afford to stop home and isolate. Increasing sick pay would undoubtedly have helped prevent virus spread.

“Matt Hancock claimed the infection control fund would ensure no care worker lost out financially if they had to call in sick. But his scheme was a spectacular failure, and everyone kept telling him as much.

“Nowhere near enough of the money ever reached the frontline. Care staff either lost wages or continued working with the virus, with disastrous consequences.”

Notes to editors:
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.

Media contact:
Liz Chinchen M: 07778 158175 E: press@unison.co.uk  

The article Boosting sick pay during the pandemic would have helped prevent virus spread first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Boosting sick pay during the pandemic would have helped prevent virus spread

Commenting on evidence from former health and care secretary Matt Hancock to the Covid inquiry about sick pay rates during the pandemic, UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said: 

“It’s a shame Matt Hancock wasn’t as enthusiastic about boosting sick pay when he was in government. 

“Pitifully low rates meant care staff went into work when they had Covid, simply because they couldn’t afford to stop home and isolate. Increasing sick pay would undoubtedly have helped prevent virus spread.

“Matt Hancock claimed the infection control fund would ensure no care worker lost out financially if they had to call in sick. But his scheme was a spectacular failure, and everyone kept telling him as much.

“Nowhere near enough of the money ever reached the frontline. Care staff either lost wages or continued working with the virus, with disastrous consequences.”

Notes to editors:
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.

Media contact:
Liz Chinchen M: 07778 158175 E: press@unison.co.uk  

The article Boosting sick pay during the pandemic would have helped prevent virus spread first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Blog: Matt Hancock made for grim listening at the COVID Inquiry

Matt Hancock, the man responsible for the health and care of the nation during the deadliest emergency for a century, finally gave his evidence to the COVID Inquiry this week. And it was just as grim as I’d expected.

He talked about social care like it was something he found down the back of his sofa, rather than a vital public service he was responsible for. At one point, he said: “We at the health department” – once again forgetting about social care.

He admitted he didn’t know how many care homes there were in the country when COVID hit, or how many care home residents lived in them. So how could he possibly have known where to throw that ‘protective ring’ he boasted about?

The care sector had been in crisis long before the pandemic – a crisis presided over by years of Tory mismanagement and failed political choices. This left the sector exposed to the ravages of the pandemic, right from the start.

Mr Hancock failed in his responsibility to provide enough PPE, testing and paid leave for care workers who needed to self-isolate. He was warned by UNISON, repeatedly, about the need for sick pay and yet he failed to act decisively.

When the government belatedly brought in an “infection control fund” to provide money for sick pay, UNISON care worker members told us the system didn’t work, with many still left without adequate pay. 

It’s also telling how he relied so heavily on his lack of direct control over social care as an excuse for these failings, but when he saw the vaccination programme giving the Tories a boost in the polls, he had no problem introducing the ill-advised “mandatory vaccination” in care homes, which ironically undermined the roll-out.

He found the levers to make vaccination mandatory for care workers, but not sick pay.

Even now, when the time is right for self-reflection and taking responsibility, he is dodging it and passing the buck.

There are lessons to be learnt from the inquiry. A big one is about the urgent need to fix the social care crisis. A nationally integrated, fully funded system, delivered by empowered local councils, would have ensured a secretary of state for health and social care took responsibility for the whole job. It could have saved lives, and the UK could have avoided one of the worst death rates in Europe.

UNISON’s campaign for a National Care Service got a big boost from the Fabian Society report a few weeks ago and 16,000 people have already signed our recently launched petition. If Matt Hancock showed us this week how care was so easily forgotten by Tory ministers, you can show how important it is to you, by signing our petition today.

The article Blog: Matt Hancock made for grim listening at the COVID Inquiry first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Blog: Matt Hancock made for grim listening at the COVID Inquiry

Matt Hancock, the man responsible for the health and care of the nation during the deadliest emergency for a century, finally gave his evidence to the COVID Inquiry this week. And it was just as grim as I’d expected.

He talked about social care like it was something he found down the back of his sofa, rather than a vital public service he was responsible for. At one point, he said: “We at the health department” – once again forgetting about social care.

He admitted he didn’t know how many care homes there were in the country when COVID hit, or how many care home residents lived in them. So how could he possibly have known where to throw that ‘protective ring’ he boasted about?

The care sector had been in crisis long before the pandemic – a crisis presided over by years of Tory mismanagement and failed political choices. This left the sector exposed to the ravages of the pandemic, right from the start.

Mr Hancock failed in his responsibility to provide enough PPE, testing and paid leave for care workers who needed to self-isolate. He was warned by UNISON, repeatedly, about the need for sick pay and yet he failed to act decisively.

When the government belatedly brought in an “infection control fund” to provide money for sick pay, UNISON care worker members told us the system didn’t work, with many still left without adequate pay. 

It’s also telling how he relied so heavily on his lack of direct control over social care as an excuse for these failings, but when he saw the vaccination programme giving the Tories a boost in the polls, he had no problem introducing the ill-advised “mandatory vaccination” in care homes, which ironically undermined the roll-out.

He found the levers to make vaccination mandatory for care workers, but not sick pay.

Even now, when the time is right for self-reflection and taking responsibility, he is dodging it and passing the buck.

There are lessons to be learnt from the inquiry. A big one is about the urgent need to fix the social care crisis. A nationally integrated, fully funded system, delivered by empowered local councils, would have ensured a secretary of state for health and social care took responsibility for the whole job. It could have saved lives, and the UK could have avoided one of the worst death rates in Europe.

UNISON’s campaign for a National Care Service got a big boost from the Fabian Society report a few weeks ago and 16,000 people have already signed our recently launched petition. If Matt Hancock showed us this week how care was so easily forgotten by Tory ministers, you can show how important it is to you, by signing our petition today.

The article Blog: Matt Hancock made for grim listening at the COVID Inquiry first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Blog: Matt Hancock made for grim listening at the COVID Inquiry

Matt Hancock, the man responsible for the health and care of the nation during the deadliest emergency for a century, finally gave his evidence to the COVID Inquiry this week. And it was just as grim as I’d expected.

He talked about social care like it was something he found down the back of his sofa, rather than a vital public service he was responsible for. At one point, he said: “We at the health department” – once again forgetting about social care.

He admitted he didn’t know how many care homes there were in the country when COVID hit, or how many care home residents lived in them. So how could he possibly have known where to throw that ‘protective ring’ he boasted about?

The care sector had been in crisis long before the pandemic – a crisis presided over by years of Tory mismanagement and failed political choices. This left the sector exposed to the ravages of the pandemic, right from the start.

Mr Hancock failed in his responsibility to provide enough PPE, testing and paid leave for care workers who needed to self-isolate. He was warned by UNISON, repeatedly, about the need for sick pay and yet he failed to act decisively.

When the government belatedly brought in an “infection control fund” to provide money for sick pay, UNISON care worker members told us the system didn’t work, with many still left without adequate pay. 

It’s also telling how he relied so heavily on his lack of direct control over social care as an excuse for these failings, but when he saw the vaccination programme giving the Tories a boost in the polls, he had no problem introducing the ill-advised “mandatory vaccination” in care homes, which ironically undermined the roll-out.

He found the levers to make vaccination mandatory for care workers, but not sick pay.

Even now, when the time is right for self-reflection and taking responsibility, he is dodging it and passing the buck.

There are lessons to be learnt from the inquiry. A big one is about the urgent need to fix the social care crisis. A nationally integrated, fully funded system, delivered by empowered local councils, would have ensured a secretary of state for health and social care took responsibility for the whole job. It could have saved lives, and the UK could have avoided one of the worst death rates in Europe.

UNISON’s campaign for a National Care Service got a big boost from the Fabian Society report a few weeks ago and 16,000 people have already signed our recently launched petition. If Matt Hancock showed us this week how care was so easily forgotten by Tory ministers, you can show how important it is to you, by signing our petition today.

The article Blog: Matt Hancock made for grim listening at the COVID Inquiry first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Lessons must be learned from government’s pandemic care home policy, says UNISON

Responding to claims today (Wednesday) that Matt Hancock rejected advice to test everyone going into care homes at the height of the pandemic, UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said:    

“Care homes were on Matt Hancock’s watch but he failed to protect them from the virus. Lives were needlessly lost because ministers effectively abandoned staff and residents. 

“Many care workers had to make their own safety kit from bin bags, couldn’t access testing for months and were pressured into coming in when they should have been off work with Covid. 

“The government is to blame for this disaster. Staff, care home residents and their families paid an unacceptable price. Lessons must now be learned through the independent public inquiry.” 

Notes to editors:– UNISON is the UK’s largest union with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.   

Media contact:
Sophie Goodchild M: 07767 325595 E: s.goodchild@unison.co.uk
Liz Chinchen M: 07778 158175 E: press@unison.co.uk

The article Lessons must be learned from government’s pandemic care home policy, says UNISON first appeared on the UNISON National site.