ADSS Cymru has issued the following joint response by the President, Nicola Stubbins and Vice President and Workforce Lead, Jonathan Griffiths to today's publication of a report1 commissioned by Welsh Government, reviewing disparities in pay and conditions across the social care workforce in Wales:
"We welcome the fact that Welsh Government has taken the initiative to commission this review, which evidences the issues that have faced our social care workforce for some time.
"The Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS) Cymru has consistently advocated for parity of esteem between the health and social care workforce. However, the evidence here is clear that we need to change that rhetoric into action if we are to resolve the recruitment and retention problem challenging the sector.
"As events of recent months have brought to the fore, it is absolutely critical to the wellbeing of our communities that we have a social care workforce that is adequately staffed and skilled to carry out the work they do, and that staff should receive fair reward in order to undertake professional development that improves their skills and benefits the organisation they work for.
"We want to make the social care sector an attractive sector for people to enter into and pursue as a long-term and meaningful career with great outcomes for staff and citizens receiving support. We want to attract more people with the right skills and values to work in caring roles and while monetary value isn’t often a motivational factor, when the sector is regarded by the general public as a low pay sector, it does nothing to widen the appeal of the profession beyond its current boundaries.
"ADSS Cymru is committed to fair reward including the improvement of terms and conditions for those working in social care. We welcome the setup of the ministerial Social Care Forum, which met for the first time today and will enable us to work with Welsh Government, trade unions and other key partners to influence national priorities and policy regarding fair work (as defined by the Fair Work Wales report) in the social care sector in Wales, to address these critical issues and bring about meaningful improvement for our workforce."
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1. To read the report, go to: https://gov.wales/terms-and-conditions-social-care-employment-contracts-wales