Wigan social care charity announces £3m investment in frontline pay

The uplift, which is the second in six months for Community Integrated Care’s 5,000 strong workforce, will see the charity pay more than both the Government’s National Living Wage and the voluntary real Living Wage as recommended by the Living Wage Foundation.

The move represents a further £3m investment from the organisation, in addition to £5m already spent improving employee pay, reward and wellbeing in autumn 2021, reflecting the charity’s commitments to frontline recognition under its new Best Lives Possible five-year strategy.

This industry-leading rate of pay means that a frontline support worker in Wigan working 40 hours per week will now receive a boost of an extra £625 per year.

There will be equivalent uplifts for the charity’s advanced support worker roles and nurses.

Mark Adams, Chief Executive Officer at Community Integrated Care, said: “As the social care sector continues its battle with low pay and skills shortages, our charity is proud to be in a position where we can go some way in fulfilling our commitment to valuing and rewarding our colleagues fairly for their outstanding work.

"But we know that for many providers, this is an impossibility, tightly bound by the Government’s funding constraints and a recruitment crisis that is buckling our sector.

“We urgently need action from central government, including sustainable funding and an effective workforce strategy, to address the significant challenges social care is facing.

"In the meantime, we will continue to campaign for real change, so these rates become normal and not the exception in our sector.”

Teresa Exelby, Chief People Officer at Community Integrated Care added: "The world has changed immeasurably within this period and even now, as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, our colleagues are grappling with steep increases to the costs of living, leaving many people understandably anxious about what lies ahead.

“While we know there’s no quick fix to these issues, we hope that this £3m investment goes some small way in making daily life easier for our teams, demonstrating our commitment to making our Best Lives Possible strategy a reality for not only the people we support, but our colleagues too.”

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