Living Wage Week (November 4 – 10)

Published: 05 November 2012

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is this week highlighting the crucial work of healthcare assistants on poor pay as part of Living Wage Week.

Currently the living wage, set by the Living Wage Foundation according to the basic cost of living in the UK is £8.30 per hour (ph) in London and £7.20 ph in the rest of the UK. The current minimum wage for the whole of the UK is £6.19 ph.

Dr Peter Carter, Chief Executive and General Secretary of the RCN said: “This is an issue that greatly affects our members, particularly healthcare assistants in the private sector who are often paid less than the living wage for the important work they do.

“Despite the vital service they provide the wages being offered do not match, and with rent, utilities and childcare costs all rising they are struggling to make end meet, forcing them to claim benefits - this is unacceptable.”

In addition it has also been announced that the rising cost of childcare is wiping out the benefit of working for some parents, another issue which will affect those paid below the living wage.

Dr Carter added: “It is time that healthcare assistants were recognized for their contribution to the health service and paid a wage which reflects this.”

Case study: A current healthcare assistant working at a nursing home in Milton Keynes is earning £7 ph. Before this she lived in South East London and worked for the same company, earning just £6.58 ph. She was forced to leave London because she could not afford the cost of living. She lives with her husband and young son. Her work is varied and challenging, and includes monitoring the temperature and food/drink intakes of residents, checking and emptying catheters, and acting as a contact with residents’ families.

She said: “We had to move out of London because of living costs, life was so hard. It was not enough and I tried to work extra hours and work extra jobs but after tax it made no difference.

“I remember one day I had to pay the child minder extra because I was late picking up my son because of the snow. It was the day after I was paid and after that I had £10 left, I could have cried. We just had to call the electric and gas companies and ask them to delay our bills.

“We are not paid enough, we do so much more than we are expected to do. Working in a nursing home is so challenging. I have been training to get more qualifications, and now have an NVQ Level 3 but this only increased my pay from £6.58 to £7 ph.”