Aberdeen fulfils living wage pledge to city care workers

30 September 2016

The Aberdeen City Health & Social Care Partnership has met its commitment to ensure all care workers are paid at least the living wage of £8.25 per hour.

The living wage was provided for those working in care homes last year. From tomorrow (1 October 2016) it will be rolled out to include those providing care at home or in housing support.

At a meeting of the partnership’s Integration Joint Board (IJB) in August it was agreed to implement a 6.4% uplift in rates for all providers to enable them to meet the pledge.

Councillor Len Ironside, chairman of the IJB, said: “We are proud to be a living wage employer and to be meeting the commitments we made as part of the 2016/17 budget settlement.

“It is a positive step for care workers already playing a vital role in our city and will also support our efforts to attract more people into the care sector.”

The IJB received additional funding of £1.6 million through the Scottish Government budget settlement process to implement the living wage to home care providers for the half year October 2016 to March 2017.

Aberdeen City Council Leader Councillor Jenny Laing said: “October 1 marks another important milestone for care services in the city. As a council we are dedicated to ensuring fair working practices and the implementation of the living wage is a central strand of that.”

The living wage is an informal benchmark calculated by the Centre for Research in Social Policy, Loughborough University, and not a legally enforceable minimum level of pay, unlike the national minimum wage.

Bon Accord Care, established to manage and deliver care services on behalf of Aberdeen City Council, is already an established living wage employer and is therefore not included in the uplift.