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Highland carers get £1,000 boost after ‘insulting’ pay deal from Holyrood

Inverness-based group also unveils former politician of the year as chairman.

Home carer with woman needing support.
A home carer providing much-needed support. Image: HHC

Highland Home Carers (HHC) – Scotland’s largest employee-owned firm – is giving each of its hard-working, 250-plus team a bonus worth up to £1,000.

Managing director Campbell Mair said the distribution of shares on top of wages which go “well beyond what we are funded for” reflect the business “doing all we can do to support our workforce”.

And he blasted the Scottish Government for increasing the basic pay of care workers by just 3.8% this year, to £10.90 per hour.

The official rate of inflation has been close to 10% or higher for more than a year.

Highland Home Carers managing director Campbell Mair.
Highland Home Carers managing director Campbell Mair. Image: HHC

About 160,000 NHS staff – including nurses, midwives, paramedics, allied health professionals, porters and others – received an average 6.5% rise in pay for 2023-24.

Mr Mair said the government’s pay settlement for care workers was all the more unpalatable after the unstinting devotion to duty they showed during the pandemic.

A 3.8% funding increase is pretty insulting and disparaging, to be blunt.”

Campbell Mair, managing director, Highland Home Carers

Many of them suffered burn-out under “the most stressful of circumstances”, Mr Mair said.

He added: “Large parts of the health sector shut down during the pandemic but we didn’t miss a beat. We didn’t stop delivering care.

“A 3.8% funding increase is pretty insulting and disparaging, to be blunt.

“Either we are owed a debt of gratitude or we are not. We are at least as essential  as others in the health and social care service.”

£175,000 total cost to HHC

Every HHC employee who works 30 hours or more will be granted £1,000-worth of shares. Those working less than 30 hours per week will receive a pro rata allocation.

It is not the first time Inverness-based HHC has rewarded its staff in this way.

Mr Mair said: “We are making a very significant investment in our most precious assets – people. In the face of sector-wide workforce challenges, this investment is made with a focus on retention and recruitment, and maximising the opportunity for employees to be the beneficiaries of our business model of employee ownership.”

The latest share awards will cost HHC in the region of £175,000.

Former Scottish Government minister Andy Kerr joins HHC’s team

HHC has also announced the appointment of former Scottish politician of the year Andy Kerr as non-executive chairman.

Mr Kerr was a Labour MSP for East Kilbride from 1999 to 2011, serving as minister for finance and public services from 2001 to 2004 and minister for health and community care from 2004 to 2007. He was also responsible for steering through the Scottish ban on smoking in public places, which earned him the politician of the year title in 2006.

He is currently chairman of the government’s Fair Work in Social Care Implementation Group.

Former Scottish Labour minister Andy Kerr.
Former Scottish Labour minister Andy Kerr. Image: Allan Milligan

Mr Kerr said: “I look forward to working with everyone at Highland Home Carers and contributing to the ongoing success of this innovative, people-centred and caring organisation.”

HHC said its new chairman would be a public voice for the organisation, acting as an ambassador and “champion of the good work we do”.

Mr Mair added: “Andy’s depth and breadth of experience and knowledge will be of benefit not just to Highland Home Carers, but also across the wider sector and Highland economy.”

Meanwhile, HHC’s team have been celebrating national awards for groundbreaking work on the prevention of pressure ulcers in a care-at-home setting.

At the Scottish Care Awards in Glasgow, HHC won the top gong for technology and people in recognition of its prevention pilot scheme for potentially fatal pressure ulcers.

Managing director Campbell Mair and some of the Highland Home Carers team following their triumph at the Scottish Care Awards.
Managing director Campbell Mair and some of the Highland Home Carers team following their triumph at the Scottish Care Awards. Image: HHC

The trial is expected to pave the way for new practices that could stop unnecessary suffering and save millions of pounds for the NHS. In 2015 the UK Government estimated the cost of treating each pressure ulcer, depending on severity, as between £1,214- £14,108.

HHC’s pilot has been hailed as a game changer for the care sector.

Operations director Carolanne Mainland and her team were previously recognised for their work on the project at the annual Digital Health and Care Awards.

Brexit and Covid have taken their toll

HHC has been an employee owned company since 2004.

Operating across the Highlands since 1994, alongside doctors, nurses and other health care professionals, the organisation cares for some of the region’s most vulnerable people, including many with highly complex needs.

But workforce numbers at HHC today are about half the level of a few years ago.

Brexit and the extraordinary pressures of the Covid pandemic have taken their toll.

Mr Mair said staff were “exhausted” – making it all the more important for HHC to reward staff.

What does the government say about its 3.8% pay rise for care workers?

Social Care Minister Maree Todd said: “Pay and conditions play an important role in the wellbeing and retention of our social care workforce and we are committed to improvement. Over the last couple of years, we have increased the pay for social care workers by more than 14%.

“We are committed to improving social care services and know well the workforce challenges the adult social care sector in particular faces.

“While we are not able to afford to do this immediately, we have committed to a timetable that sets out how this government will get to £12 an hour for adult social care workers.”

Social Care Minister Maree Todd.
Social Care Minister Maree Todd. Image: Jason Hedges/DC Thomson

Ms Todd added: “We are looking at how we can plan for, attract, train, employ and nurture the workforce, working with Cosla (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) to deliver consistency of improved pay and conditions, and improving access to training and development to ensure a career in social care is attractive and rewarding.”

Many social care workers in England and Northern Ireland receive the National Living Wage of £10.42 per hour, which is 48p less than their Scottish counterparts.

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