In its submission to the Kingsmill Review on exploitation in the care sector, UNISON has called for the union’s Ethical Care Charter, or the principles in it, to be promoted to all local authorities as a way of improving the delivery of homecare services.
The charter includes a pledge to avoid the practice of notorious 15-minute visits.
The union’s response also stresses the inappropriateness of zero-hours contracts and the known risk of non-compliance with the national minimum wage in the sector.
And in an article for TUC blog Touchstone, as part of Fair Pay Fortnight, the union made the link between low pay and quality of care.
After 15 years of the national minimum wage, which it described as “a landmark achievement for the trade union movement” that “provided a wage floor for millions of workers”, the article stresses that “many are still slipping through the net” … and “none more so than in social care.”
Touchstone blog: Social care: ending exploitation, improving care quality
Kingsmill Review: summary of the UNISON response with link to the full response
