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‘No chance’ of £500 carer bonus before Christmas |
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© Robert Kneschke
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There is ‘no way’ social care staff will receive the £500 covid-19 ‘thank-you’ payment – announced by Nicola Sturgeon last month – before Christmas.
The sector’s largest representative body – Scottish Care – says the announcement was made without any process in place to roll it out to all of Scotland’s social care workers.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the payment at November’s SNP conference in recognition of the “incredible, often heroic efforts” of health and social care staff over the pandemic.
Describing the payment as a “welcome message”, Scottish Care National Director Karen Hedge says there are concerns about how it will get to frontline care staff:
“There is no way it will be in time for Christmas – we know that many of our providers are still waiting on some of the sustainability funding supports for covid-related costs, even from as far back as March, so the chances of getting this rolled out in time for Christmas are slim.”
“…I think the movement towards the £500 payment is a real, welcome message through the sector, particularly to our frontline staff, many of whom we know are in in-work poverty, but really to show recognition of the role that they play.
“We have concerns though because at the moment the announcement was made without a process in place to get the funding out there, so we were really hoping that something will move fairly quickly, particularly as Christmas and the additional expenses that come with that approach.”
All adult social care employees, personal assistants, social care staff working in children’s residential services and social workers employed since the 17th March 2020 are to receive the payment that the government said would be made before the end of the financial year in March.
Questions were raised earlier this year about how much of a £100m emergency covid fund for social care had reached frontline services.
Three months after the funding was pledged, not-for-profit care providers told healthandcare.scot they had seen “virtually nothing of it”.
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