Wolverhampton Council set to increase pay to care providers

Cabinet members will be asked to approve the proposed increase when they meet on Wednesday. The council says it wants to help sustain the local adult social care market and meet increases in the National Living Wage.

Councillor Linda Leach, cabinet member for adult services, said: "The city's social care sector has a vital role to play in supporting our most vulnerable residents, and we want to ensure it is as strong and vibrant as it can be.

"We also want to make it a more attractive sector for people to work in, particularly as demand for services continues to rise.

"We know that, like other employers, adult care and support providers are facing a perfect storm of rising costs and recruitment issues, and we have already increased the hourly rate we pay to homecare providers and reablement providers to help ease the pressure caused by Covid-19.

"We have continued to engage closely with our providers and are now proposing to further increase rates by up to 10 per cent for the coming financial year, which will not only benefit providers and their staff, but also service users and their families.

“It means we will be putting a further £4.1m into adult social care next year, and will bring our total investment in adult social care to nearly £80m in 2022-23.”

The council is proposing to increase rates by 10 per cent for nursing care for people with dementia and community activities for older people.

For Direct Payments, home care, home-based respite, supported living and community activities for adults with complex needs, they are proposing a pay rise of just over six per cent.

It would be a five per cent pay rise for providers of residential care for older people, just over three per cent for rapid response and reablement home care, and three per cent for extra care and nursing and residential care for adults under 65.

If approved, the increased rates will come into effect from April 4, 2022.