The care home sector got £2.1 billion in government COVID aid -- our research shows care workers themselves got little support
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Samedi, décembre 30, 2023
In England, the vacancy rate in the adult social care workforce for 2022-2023 was 9.9%.
Key Points:
- In England, the vacancy rate in the adult social care workforce for 2022-2023 was 9.9%.
- Experts underline that staffing and financing were problems in the care sector well before COVID arrived in March 2020.
- The pandemic exacerbated this crisis, despite the extra £2.1 billion in emergency government support, provided during the first year.
- Of the care workers we spoke to, 42% are in financial distress related to having worked in care homes during the pandemic.
Care workers in dire straits
- We conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 43 care home staff, including workers and managers.
- We found that most of the £2.1 billion in government aid went to covering care homes’ loss of revenue resulting from decreasing occupancy.
- In the first two years of the pandemic, 1,290 care workers (including those working in domiciliary settings) died as a result of COVID-19.
- Of the care workers we surveyed, 80% reported working more hours during the pandemic, typically doing 12-hour shifts, as opposed to the seven to eight-hour norm.
- Taking on extra hours actually put some workers at a financial disadvantage because it reduced their eligibility for in-work benefits.
A defective funding model
- It highlighted the demise, since 2011, of two major providers, Southern Cross and Four Seasons, which housed 45,000 elderly people between them.
- Our findings confirm that the complex funding model on which the care home sector is based is unsustainable.
- For the most part, however, two things kept care homes afloat in the first year of the pandemic.
- Our [staff] turnover rate has gone up to about 33%, and we had it down at about 18% before the pandemic.
- Our [staff] turnover rate has gone up to about 33%, and we had it down at about 18% before the pandemic.
Marianna Fotaki receives funding from UK Research and Innovation COVID Scheme Derya Ozdemir Kaya does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.