'Not all companies passing full £1 hourly rise into Notts care workers’ pay'

Nottinghamshire Council’s cabinet member for social care has said the money is instead being used by some to fund other pay pressures.

The authority commissions care organisations to provide social care on its behalf.

This includes homecare agencies and individual care homes, with hourly rates funded through council budgets to offer community social care services.

In July, cabinet members approved a plan to give care providers an extra hourly £1 per care worker in a bid to boost staff pay.

The move, which came into effect in September and cost about £5 million, was done to “honour and thank” carers and encourage more people into the sector.

However, Coun Matt Barney said the fee is not necessarily being handed directly to staff salaries, despite being intended for this purpose.

His comments came after a question from Coun Paul Henshaw, Labour member for Mansfield West.

Coun Henshaw said: “We have a moral duty, now we’ve made the decision to uplift, to keep monitoring and saying providers need to look very seriously at wages.”

Coun Barney told the full council meeting the authority does not have the power to stipulate how the uprate is spent, but has been asking care organisations to consider using it specifically for wages as a “priority”.

He said: “It was agreed in July to pay an additional £1 per hour to homecare and supported living providers, intended to be passed on to care workers.

“Our contracts with these providers do not allow us to stipulate the £1 should be automatically passed to the workforce, but our communications asked this be considered as a priority.

“Since then, we have sought to monitor the delivery of this £1 increase.

“Our initial findings indicate a number of providers have passed the full amount, or even more than the £1 amount, to their workforce.

“Some have increased pay but not by the whole £1, with increases instead being used for mileage, fuel costs and costs associated with company cars.

“Our teams continue to audit providers and how the uplift is being implemented and a full evaluation of this will be completed in January.”