Responding to reports that the government has announced a review into 15 minute care visits and zero hour contracts, Heather Wakefield, Head of Local Government for UNISON said:
“It is unlikely a review will tell us anything we don’t already know, and asking the Care Quality Commission to look at the issue makes the government look like it is passing the buck.
“The government needs to put its money where its mouth is. There is no point crying crocodile tears over 15 minute visits for personal care, while at the same time continuing to drastically cut funding to local councils that have already lost £2.6 billion in social care budgets.
“Mr Lamb is good at articulating the problem, but he needs to take responsibility for sorting it out. The government has previously acknowledged the damage that 15 minutes care visits can do, but it has failed to stop their use.
“Home carers have repeatedly raised concerns that elderly people are suffering because 15 minutes is not enough to provide even the most basic care. It is time to act and ban their use for personal care across the UK, and for the government to end the scandal of the elderly care crisis in this country.”