Nobody should face poverty because of the care they give
Scottish Green MSPs will today (26 April) lead a debate at Holyrood on carers policy, urging other parties to vote in favour of more financial support for carers and a "Living Wage Plus" for social care workers.
The party's local election manifesto says Green councillors will:
-Campaign to pay social care workers a ‘Living Wage Plus’ of £9.20 per hour
-Push for sleepover shifts to be paid at the living wage
-Ensure social care workers are paid for shift handovers and for time spent travelling between jobs
-Push for all carers to receive high quality support including access to respite, counselling and financial advice
-Work to eliminate care charges entirely
At 5pm, MSPs will be asked to vote on the Green motion, which calls for improvements to social care to be paid for through reformed local taxes and progressive national taxes rather than care charges.
Alison Johnstone MSP, Health and Social Security spokesperson for the Scottish Greens, said:
"Social care is essential to people’s health and dignity, yet there remains a vast gap between the value of care and the support or pay that carers receive. Nobody should face poverty because of the care they give.
"With devolved powers we can give greater support to young carers and those in education. We can also increase the carer's allowance.
"All who work in social care, including people working with children, should be paid a ‘Living Wage Plus’. Better pay, conditions and career opportunities are essential to recruiting and retaining experienced staff.
"The reckless Brexit being pursued by the Conservatives poses a huge threat to social care staffing. Greens have made high quality social care a key part of our council election campaign, and I hope the other parties agree with us that these issues should be a higher priority."
The text of the motion for debate, in the name of Alison Johnstone, is:
That the Parliament believes there remains a vast gap between the value of care and the support or pay that carers receive, and that nobody should face poverty because of the care they give; supports calls for the Scottish Government to provide more practical support to young carers, more financial support to young adult carers in education, and a carers allowance for unpaid carers that is increased in value, available more widely and does not count as income when assessing benefits and care charges; believes social care is essential to people’s health, dignity and control; agrees to ensure that all who work in social care, including people working with children, are paid a ‘Living Wage Plus’; believes that better pay, conditions and career opportunities are essential to recruiting and retaining experienced staff, particularly in light of Brexit; and commits to funding high-quality social care that is ultimately free-at-the-point-of-use, paid for by local tax reform, progressive national taxation and not care charges.
Scottish Greens' council election manifesto pledges on social care