Please read the article below and spend 5 minutes emailing your MP as instructed below: even if you are not personally affected by the ongoing staffing crisis.
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As many of you already know the crisis in social care staffing and PA support for independent living continues to be very problematic due to a massive shortage of social care staff in the UK. DPAC and others believe this is caused by two main factors firstly Brexit and the loss of freedom of movement and secondly depressed wages which for many Direct Payment users haven’t increased for 8 or more years.
This is what someone said about Gillian Keegan, minister for Care and Mental Health when she briefly attended a meeting about this crisis.
“Her response was shocking, She showed a complete lack of attention to what was being said which I felt was blatantly rude and disrespectful. Most of the time she appeared to be paying no attention at all. I was so angry.”
The 12 month delayed Migration Advisory Committee report is due at the end of April so we’re asking people now to write to their MPs asking them to contact Gillian Keegan urgently to express their concerns about the continuing staffing crisis and telling her that as minister she needs to do something to ensure there is better funding available for salaries and that a non-sponsored visa route must be made available for non-UK workers.
Please also write to your MPs even if you don’t currently need social care and support for independent living as one day you may need this support.
If you have any individual experiences of recruitment problems that you can tell your MP about please add that to any letter or email.
Please send the letter below, by post or email to your MP, and let us know any response you get at our usual email address mail@dpac.uk.net
Please delete as appropriate where blue font is used. Please feel free to add or change anything.
If you need to find your MP’s email address you can find that at www.parliament.uk
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Dear MP,
As a service user/ family member of a service user/ friend of a service user/ disabled person (delete as appropriate) I am writing to you to express my concern about the fact that there no solution has yet been reached regarding the crisis in staffing levels in social care affecting all sectors of the industry including care homes, domiciliary services and directly employed Personal Assistants. There remain over 105,000 vacancies to date in the industry.
This situation developed rapidly following the end of the Brexit transition period which has led to the exacerbation of this problem. However it is also clear that in some cases the shortage of staff is due to low wage levels, which often haven’t risen for 8 or more years,particularly in rural areas where it is possible for people to earn much more house cleaning, dog walking or working in hospitality.
Too many disabled people are now being offered re- institutionalisation as an alternative to the right to live independently in the community due to the shortage of social care staff. This really is not acceptable and the government must take urgent action to avoid this happening in line with their UNCRPD commitments.
Moving disabled people to live in the community and the creation of the Independent Living Fund was one of the truly innovative policies of Margaret Thatcher’s era so it would be very sad to see that achievement lost due to an obsession not to allow a very small minority of overseas staff able to come and work in the UK. It is estimated that there are only around 100,000 disabled people who employ PAs directly but it is essential that there is a non-sponsored visa route available for them to use to recruit staff in the present and future.
The recently announced scheme to recruit more social care staff without additional funding for higher wages beyond March 2022 is unlikely to alleviate this problem. Also none of the money raised through higher National Insurance is going to social care initially as it going to the NHS. Virtually none of that money will go to local authorities to improve services.
I/We know from many years of experience that it is vital to have every path open to enable the recruitment and retention of social care staff with the key values, behaviours, personality, client synergy and skill set to deliver high quality, safe, and value-for-money services. I/we know that it is not possible for just anyone to become a satisfactory social care worker/PA.
I am also aware that the government claim to want to get 1 million disabled people into sustainable employment by 2027 and are currently boosting the number of Disability Employment Advisors to “help disabled people to secure and stay in work” through the ‘Plan for Jobs scheme.’ This however will be doomed to failure if at the same time access to a suitably qualified workforce to support disabled people to live independently in the community is removed. If no specific non-sponsored visa route is put in place disabled people will not only be denied the possibility of working but may be forced to move out of the community into care homes costing the exchequer far more.
The cost of an Adult Treatment Unit placement can be around £12,000 per week, a care home placement for those with a Learning Disability at e.g. Winterbourne View an average £4,500 a week and a hospital bed £2,500 a week.
While the government has made exceptions for corporations to employ agricultural workers from abroad, HGV drivers, and some other occupations the limited changes announced on Christmas Eve are insufficient to deal with this very real crisis in social care happening now.
Having good quality social care for independent living is literally a life and death situation for disabled people and we/they must not become collateral damage in pursuit of the removal of freedom of movement. The inherent dangers this would create for disabled people must be acknowledged and mitigated by urgent action by the government putting in place changes to immigration routes and additional funding specifically for higher social care wages. British workers are now asking for double or more than double the amount of social care funding most disabled people are given to meet their needs. This is not sustainable.
Yours sincerely,
xxxxx
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