Wigan care workers to get a double pay rise

National adult health and social care charity Making Space has announced it will pay all employees a minimum of £9.90 per hour from April 2022. The figure has been calculated as the voluntary “real living wage” recommended by the Living Wage Foundation. The increase will see full-time support workers earn an additional £1,700 each year.

The charity operates across the region including Wigan Supported Housing and Kingshill residential home in Standish. The home provides residential accommodation and 24-hour care for people with severe enduring mental illness and employs 20 people. This is to be the second pay rise for the essential workers this year, with the charity having already started to pay the new UK statutory national living wage from January, three months ahead of schedule. Making Space is investing just under half a million pounds across the UK to bring in the pay increases, which will benefit all frontline care and support workers.

Employees on pay points already equal to or exceeding £9.90 per hour will also see their annual income increase, with 85 per cent of all Making Space workers receiving a rise of between 3.9 and 9.2 per cent by April 2022. The current minimum hourly rate for adults ranges from £6.56 to £8.91, depending on age.

“These are professional, skilled people and need to be rewarded as so. Our sector faces unprecedented change and significant challenges. At a strategic level, it’s vital for Making Space to address low pay levels, recruitment challenges and high turnover.

“But while we will continue to do everything we can to attract and train the best people to deliver outstanding care and support, we also need the Government to do a lot more.

“We need reforms in the health and social care sector to bring people more in line with their NHS colleagues, who receive higher pay and better benefits.”

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