I have been contacted by some constituents – Council home carers – who are very angry and upset about forced changes to their contracts. They have pleaded for anonymity as they are frightened of what might happen if they speak out. I have had reports of workers leaving interviews with managers and bursting into tears.

 The background appears to be this:

 There are over 600 home carers, the vast majority of whom are part time women workers.

 Highland Council is undertaking a major restructuring of home care.

 Newsletter circulated to staff a couple of weeks ago or so by a Karen Hamilton talking about `exciting times in home care in Highland’; about new opportunities for qualifications and more full time contracts. All sounded good.

Staff now having one to one interviews with managers where they are being told:

 You must sign a 37 hour per week contract or you will lose your job as a part time worker as there are to be no part time home carers in future.

 In the short term you can keep your part time job until you are replaced, but the Council will not fund you training (a Care Commission requirement) to SVQ Level 2. As a result you will be £1 an hour worse off than those who are going for SVQ, but only 37 hr per week people will be able to study for SVQ.

 Your full time contract will require you to work shifts. One shift is 7am till 2pm and the other 3-10pm. You will work 7 earlies and 8 lates.

 They will have to work 3 weekends out of every 4, currently it is a maximum of two.

 It appears the Council is moving to have full time carers rather than the mostly part time current make up. This means fewer jobs for staff currently employed, but also changes in contracts for people who are currently near full time, but to keep working will have to move to 37 hrs per week. This means considerable disruption to many if not most of the staff currently employed. 

It is not clear whether the unions have been fully consulted on this. 

Staff are very concerned about: 

The way this is being handled. They feel they are having a gun put to their heads. 

They are angry that they are going to be denied training to get SVQs unless they go to 37 hrs per week. It is catch 22 – you can stay part time for a while until replaced, but this will deny you your training and qualifications and you will be worse off by £1 per hour (even if you have 20 yrs experience!). 

They say full time work will be less flexible and less suitable for clients. At present several part timers in a town or village can be attending people in need of care at the same time, around key times of the day - getting up, breakfasting and showering, lunch and bedtime. With fewer (full time) staff you cannot by definition be in two places at once, so clients may have to wait to get up, be breakfasted, showered, put to bed, etc 

They say part time work suits many women workers and they can fit the work around their family life. Secondly they say part time keeps them fresh as they are often dealing with clients who are sufferers of serious illnesses like Parkinsons, or have dementia, or are terminally ill. This can be stressful and wearing. Working part time helps keep them fresh and not too stressed. 

They say working 3 out of every 4 weekends will be very disruptive to family life and will mean many women cannot choose to go full time, so will be forced out of work. 

Staff have not been told of the redundancy terms they will get. 

 I have written to Margaret Davidson. 

North Labour MSP, Peter Peacock said,  

“I have been contacted by worried and angry home carers.  The news has left home carers in despair and in tears, worried about the disruption to their clients and frightened to speak out. 

“From what I have been told the handling of this has been less than sensitive and has come as a bolt out of the blue to home carers. It turns out the exciting times they were told about in a recent newsletter may actually mean losing their job.  

“These are decent, hardworking and caring people and they not only fear for themselves, but they fear for their clients who may have their services altered considerably and for the worse. 

““For many staff, mostly women, working part time suits them and offers the council flexibility. There are peak times of the day for caring, around meal times and bedtime, so it makes sense to have a significant part of your workforce part time. By definition a full timer cannot be in two places at once, but two part timers can. 

“The Council appears to want to offer a better career structure for carers and that may be a good thing, but to summon staff to meetings where they are told they have to go full time or lose their job is coming as a body blow to many loyal and hardworking carers who simply cannot or do not want to go full time and now face the prospect of losing their job.  

Peter Peacock has written to the Council seeking urgent clarification of the situation and asking the Council to engage with staff unions to help resolve the issues. He has promised to put the answers he gets from the Council onto his website for all home carers to find out what is happening and what the options are for them at www.peterpeacock.org.uk 

“I am calling on the Council to draw a halt to its plans for job cuts and ending staff qualifications and am urging in order to enter proper discussions and negotiations with staff and unions. Any concerned staff should get in touch with their union and I will be in touch with UNISON to offer my support and to get their perspectives of what appears to be going on.

Text of Peter Peacock's letter to Councillor Margaret Davidson

Councillor Margaret Davidson

Chair of Housing and Social Work Committee

Highland Council

Glenurquhart Road

Inverness IV3 5NX.

2 June 2008

Dear Margaret 

Home Carers 

I have been contacted by a number of distressed and angry part time home carers who have been told they have to become full time home carers or lose their job. 

I am seeking urgent clarification from you about this matter so that I can help advise other constituents who get in touch, either carers or anxious clients. 

I have been told the Council want to improve home care careers and employ more full time carers, though fewer part time ones. I have been advised that part time home carers have been told this will result in the number of carers shrinking from 900 to 600 across the region. I am anxious to understand the impacts of this policy on the number of part time jobs there will be in future compared to now; on the opportunities to train for appropriate SVQs; how the new policy will allow the council the flexibility to meet peak demands for care during the day and the week and the impact of the changes on services to clients; what consultation and negotiation on the issues has taken place with the council's staff unions; the timescales over which proposed changes are to take place; the Council’s advice on the employment law implications of staff with contracts having those contracts terminated; the redundancy terms that are on offer; and employees rights of appeal. 

I look forward to hearing from you and I would urge the Council to consider halting progress on this issue until further discussions and negotiations are held with staff unions.

 Best wishes. 

Yours sincerely

PETER PEACOCK, MSP

Here are the comments issued by Highland Council. 

However, MSP Peter Peacock remains unconvinced and he and the workers union Unison will be seeking clarification on the Council's proposals and procedures.

Harriet Dempster, Highland Council’s Director of Social Work said: “We currently have around 675 Home carers working a variety of hours – some contracted and some on zero hours. All staff will be offered contracted hours – those not wishing to take up the offer will remain on the same terms and conditions they have at present. Staff already on contracted hours of varying numbers have been consulted to establish their continued availability when we move to shift based rota’s. A newsletter distributed today has an FAQ where we state no redundancies are anticipated at this stage. The rotas and working patterns are being developed to meet a range of working needs (full/part time, all early or late shifts etc) of our workforce and they are being consulted on this during the next two weeks. Initial discussions with staff across Highland have indicated that whilst this is a time of change bringing understandable anxiety, the reasons are sound and will ultimately prove for the better for all concerned.

“We have a transition plan in place to ensure consistency and continuous delivery of the service through the period of change. Once the changes have been made location by location, the delivery of care to clients will be more robust, consistent from an identified team of carers and more flexible to meet service users needs. In more remote and rural areas where we have difficulty recruiting staff we anticipate that the much improved terms and conditions of fixed working hours/patterns, training, increased pay and better support will attract a wider range of potential employees. Access to home care will therefore be more widely available than at present and further changes within the service will mean that service users will have a single point of contact for all their care at home services, be they ‘in house’, independently purchased or delivered through telecare. As at March 2008 - 9,851 hours of care were being delivered to 1,789 people over 65.”

Text of newsletter Home Care Matters in Highland issued in May 2008 by Highland Council

Changes are continuing!!!

This is newsletter No 2 to keep you updated on the fast moving progress of modernising our Care at Home Service. I have had the chance to meet some more of you since the last newsletter and have a much better understanding of the demands you face in doing your job in a variety of settings and locations and I have been impressed by the commitment of staff and quality of service we provide. That said my visits have also reinforced the fact that in order to continue to improve we need to do more, better and over a wider period of time especially in the evenings and at weekends.

 So …………..what’s happened since the last update?

Most importantly we have agreed Salary Scales, Job Descriptions and Person Specifications for each job described in the last newsletter. A copy of each of these is attached to this newsletter for you to keep and refer to in future.

We have met with Union representatives and agreed that they will be sent copies of this newsletter and that we will meet with them regularly over the next few months. This was a great opportunity to share questions that you had put to Unions after the first newsletter and those that had been asked elsewhere – of me and Care at Home staff locally.

 So…………..what’s in this newsletter?

The main purpose of Newsletter No 2 is to list the questions and give clear answers where we can at this stage. There are quite a lot which reflects the interest, excitement and anxiety about the plans. Here they are…….

(Before we start you should note that some answers to these questions relate or refer to Council Policy already in place. You can view or access this information by contacting your Senior or Care at Home Coordinator.)

Q
Will Home Carer staff groups be met with?

Q

Some staff already work contracted hours as Home Carers – how will the change affect them?

A

Q

Some Home Care staff work as ‘Support Workers’ in Home Care offices sometimes in addition to working as a Home Carer. How will the changes affect them?

A

The Team Leader role will take away the need for some of the duties currently undertaken by Support Workers and clerical tasks are being examined to make sure there is adequate business support.. Support workers will be included in the recruitment process to the new posts and, in the same way as other staff, individual circumstances that make this problematic will be considered on a one to one basis.    

Q

If staff (on current contracted hours or zero hours) do not wish to transfer to the new structure, will they receive redundancy payments?

Q
 

Will staff be able to choose their working days?

A

All staff will be required to work to the rota pattern. Where possible job share arrangements can be set up so that carers can share a post to cover the shifts required.      

Q
      

Will staff have more than one day off at a time?

Q
Will staff be able to work just early or late shifts?

A

This will be considered as a possibility and more information will be made available to staff on this and other aspects of the rotas in due course.    

Q        

Will split shifts be operated?

A

This will be avoided to ensure that staff are able to work for defined time limited periods on their working days.  

Q.

Will staff work night shifts?

A

Care at Home will be available 24 hours per day however it will be unusual for this to take the form of staff working overnight in client’s own homes. Staff will be required to be on a rota to be on call overnight to attend to a client who calls for help using an emergency call system (Helpcall or similar) where the need for this is assessed and required.  

Q

Will carers be restricted in when they can take leave – for example at weekends?

A

As long as care is covered within the team or from relief staff under the arrangements of the Team Leader there is no restriction on when leave can be taken. The Team Leader in consultation with the Senior may have to make decisions where there are competing demands from staff for leave.    

Q        

What will happen regarding holidays and holiday payments for Home Carers not transferring to the new levels?

A

Holidays and holiday payments for staff not on contracted hours is based on hours worked over the previous 13 weeks.  Staff remaining on this arrangement whose working hours decrease over time will be entitled to less holiday and holiday pay.     

Q
 

Will staff be paid travel time?

A

Yes. Those staff on guaranteed hours will be paid for the time they are at work (ie 20 or 30 hours per week) This includes travel time.. As Care at Home staff effectively work from home as their base their working day will commence when they leave home to attend their first client/duty.

Q
 

Will staff be paid mileage?

A

Yes, mileage payment arrangements will not change. Mileage rates remain unaltered for all staff within the Council.  

Q

Will staff have to pay back the cost of training if they leave the Council’s employment?

A

No   

Q.
Will staff have support to undertake SVQ’s

A

Yes. There is a ‘return to learn course’ which staff can access before embarking on an SVQ. SVQ Assessors will also provide assistance and guidance to help staff achieve success in the qualification.

Q

Will staff that do not change and remain on zero hours/existing contracted hours be able to access SVQ training?

A

We we will prioritise training for staff on the new contracts. Access to SVQ training for others can not be guaranteed at this time.   

Q
 

What about Equal Pay?

A

Equal Pay awards will be made, backdated to Oct 2006 and up until April 2008. After that date revised pay scales through Job Evaluation, to be announced soon, will be backdated to April 2008.

Q

What about if staff take up a new Care at Home post before Job Evaluation pay scales are agreed and announced?

A

Nobody will lose out by changing before Job evaluation. Pay will still be adjusted for the relevant periods after April 2008 – ie the time as a Home Carer and the time as Care at Home staff member.  

So…………..what’s next???

Of course despite the answers to these questions the crucial issue is the rota and shift pattern and many staff feel unable to make decisions about the choices ahead until they know more about this.  This is in the final stages of preparation and we have 2 models to consider. Carers from across Highland will be consulted through planned meetings and at random (it could be you!!.......) during the first 2 weeks of June to help us decide which the most popular option is. If you are not asked but you would like to have a look and make your views known then just speak to your Senior about it. They will take a note of your comments in writing so that we can make sure we have the views accurately understood.

As soon as this exercise is complete and a decision made we will send out the next newsletter with the rota attached. Along with this you will receive a job profile form to complete and return where you will have the opportunity to tell us which post (or posts) you would like to be considered for.

And finally

As I said in the last newsletter, this is a time of significant change for us all making some fundamental changes to our service and the way we work. I have been impressed that despite the obvious concerns this brings there is an overriding air of optimism and positivity that what we are doing is right which is very encouraging.

The next Newsletter will be out very soon but of course do not hesitate to contact me, your Senior or Co-ordinator if you have need any advice or help before then.

Karen Hamilton, Service Manager – Care at Home, tel 703465

If you are concerned, send a message to Peter Peacock.

Tick the box at the side of the message below, and provide your e-mail address for further updates of news on this issue

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