Social care providers caught in ‘Covid catch-22’

Social care providers are again calling for urgent sick pay provisions for care workers affected by Covid-19, as the government announces a substantial increase in positive lateral flow tests in care homes.

Regulations in England mandate twice weekly lateral flow tests for carers, with those testing positive forced to stay at home.

However, the Infection Control Fund that previously met the costs of sick pay ended in the Spring meaning that care providers have been meeting the unfunded costs of sick pay directly through debt or utilising their increasingly exhausted reserves.

This has created an unsustainable risk to an already overstretched sector that could see workers who are already among the lowest paid in the UK dependant on the statutory sick pay of just £99.35 per week if they call in sick, creating a ‘Covid Catch-22’ for those already struggling to make ends meet amid escalating living costs, according to providers.

Social care is significantly underfunded, meaning that providers do not receive the income to offer competitive rates of pay. As a result, many care workers simply do not have the savings to live on Statutory Sick Pay of less than £100 a week.

This financial knife-edge creates a real risk that care workers who test positive for Coronavirus will not declare these positive tests to ensure that they can remain in work or will choose to leave a sector that is already in the midst of a workforce crisis.

Community Integrated Care, a charity which employs more than 5000 social care workers across the UK, has asked the government to reinstate funding for this enforced sick leave.

Teresa Exelby, Chief People Officer for Community Integrated Care, explains: ‘Social care is tragically underfunded. This means that many providers simply cannot offer sick pay to their workforce, and those that can do so at the expense of competitive rates of pay. Every care provider is facing a perilous choice right now, with a twice weekly testing regime rightly ensuring that people who are carrying the virus do not work in care services, yet no funding to support their sick pay.

‘Clearly, this is flawed and dangerous. Care providers are faced with a Catch-22 of either picking up the tab for sick pay which means cuts to vital services and investments, raiding limited financial reserves, or seeing their workforce live on the minimal allowance of Statutory Sick Pay. This enforced absence is not a small cost to bear – in our charity alone, the average cost of Covid-related sick pay has been around £150,000 per month since March.

‘Whichever way you look at it, this scenario creates risks. Whether that is care providers spending money that they simply do not have, further undermining their long-term viability, or care workers enduring financial hardship with Statutory Sick Pay or perhaps even ignoring positive tests and still attending work.’

Photo by Annie Spratt