A MAJOR campaign has been launched to ensure qualified staff who work in care homes and domiciliary care in Gwent are paid a minimum of £20,000 a year.

Mario Kreft, chairman of Care Forum Wales, said staff had been condemned to low pay for many years because of the formulas used by local authorities and health boards to calculate fees for social care.

According to Mr Kreft, the heroic response of Gwent care workers in saving lives during the coronavirus pandemic had highlighted their true value.

It was, he said, a “national disgrace” that the 2020 Fair Pay campaign was necessary but he hoped it would prompt change.

Earlier this year the Welsh Government announced a one-off £500 bonus payment for social care staff.

It was very welcome recognition, said Mr Kreft, who wants local authorities and health boards to follow suit by updating their funding formulas so that qualified care workers received at least £20,000 a year.

One of Mr Kreft’s fears was that the NHS will poach social care staff to cope with the extra demands caused by the second surge of the virus.

He is calling for an assurance from the seven health boards in Wales that they will not be recruiting additional staff from care homes and domiciliary care by offering them more money to work for them than they allowed care providers to pay.

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Mr Kreft said: “Social care staff have risen magnificently to the immense challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the public understand better than ever that these people do have important skills and are vital to their communities across Wales.

“They are an army of heroes and should be viewed as a value rather than a cost to society.

“Existing formulas that use the basic living wage as their benchmark are unacceptable, particularly given what the sector has achieved this year and the support the sector has from the public.

“Currently, many of the formulas used to commission publicly funded social care services are predicated on paying at or just above the legal minimum wage to a significant number of people which flies in the face of the traditional Welsh qualities of fairness and equality.

“As a result, we have a system that is self-perpetuating that has created a morally bankrupt vicious circle.

“After all their heroic work during the pandemic, you surely cannot deny that people who work in care homes and those who provide care in people’s own homes deserve a bare minimum of £20,800 a year for a full time equivalent member of staff for a 40 hour seek on £10 an hour .

“Money in care workers’ pockets is spent in their local communities which is a vital part of the foundation economy of Wales.

“The time for action is now and we must shield social care and save lives this winter and into the future.”