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Housing association announces real living wage pay increase for more than 1,000 employees
A Bristol-based housing and care provider has become a ‘real living wage’ employer and increased the pay of all of its 1,072 employees.
As of 1 April, all employees at Brunelcare, which provides housing, care and support for older people in the South West of England, will be paid at or above £9.90 per hour.
The change will see all staff of the 1,000-home provider receiving a pay increase of at least 3%, while 762 of these employees receiving a further increase of 6.5%.
The real living wage is higher than the national living wage, which employees are required to pay and currently standards at £9.50 per hour for workers over 23 years of age.
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Brunelcare said it wanted to ensure that it was a real living wage employer by 2022 after discussions started in 2019. Almost 10,000 other organisations in the UK have signed up to be real living wage employers.
Oona Goldsworthy, chief executive of Brunelcare, said: “Our team has been doing such an integral job, particularly during the past two years of the pandemic, and their pay rates should reflect the vital work they continue to do.
“We believe that it isn’t enough just to say thank you. We will continue to campaign for our social care colleagues to achieve parity of pay and conditions with their colleagues in the NHS.”
Katherine Chapman, director of the Living Wage Foundation, said the organisation was “delighted” with the move.
“The pandemic has shone a light on the essential role played by those who care for us and our loved ones.
“By accrediting as a living wage employer, Brunelcare is leading the way to ensure that rates of pay in the social care sector reflect the vital work that care workers do,” she said.
The news comes shortly after the G15 group of housing associations warned that staff shortages in the care sector are putting the delivery of critical services at risk.
A survey of its members found that pay and conditions were the main challenges faced by housing associations trying to recruit care staff.
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