Inflation busting pay boost to Westminster’s homecare workers

• Pay for around 450 Homecare workers has increased by £1.50 (before tax), over and above the London Living Wage and their annual pay increase.
• This equates to an almost £3000 improvement in pay aimed at retaining and recruiting care workers.
• The investment is funded by the government’s Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund.

Homecare workers in central London are now paid almost £3,000 a year more thanks to investment by Westminster City Council. In the first of it’s kind, the pay increase equates to an almost 10% pay increase above the national level of inflation (4.0%).

Launched in December, the pay boost is now being seen in the wages for the council’s estimated 450 contracted homecare workers who look after some of the most vulnerable residents in the city. Homecare workers now will see the additional £1.50 (before tax) on top of the London Living Wage. [WGW1] 

The landmark investment, worth over £1m each year, aims to tackle inequalities in the care workforce where a high proportion of staff are women from the global majority. By paying better, we also hope to reduce high levels of staff turnover and retain care workers who love working with our residents, and who prove the high standard of care that Westminster expects.

Homecare services provide invaluable help to allow people to be cared for at home, providing personal support that is agreed as part of an individual care plan.

This pay boost announcement is in line with the council’s Fairer Westminster commitment to ensure better working conditions for care workers and provides higher quality, more dignified care. It follows last year’s signing of the UNISON Ethical Care Charter, which highlights the value that the council places on staff who deliver care and those who receive it and sets out the intention to better support both care workers and the people they look after.

Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Public Health and Voluntary Sector, Councillor Nafsika Butler-Thalassis, said:

I am so grateful of the tireless work the council’s homecare workers provide to our residents.

They worked throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, and they are now working through the cost-of-living crisis so I’m incredibly pleased that we can finally thank them with this above inflation pay increase. I hope this will also make it easier to retain homecare workers locally as well as attract people to the sector, giving our residents greater stability in their caring arrangements.

Abimbola Animashaun, a homecare worker added:

My favourite part of the job is communicating with the clients, because you really make their day. Often they will be looking forward to seeing you and that is something which means a lot to me.

UNISON London regional secretary Jo Galloway said:

Homecare workers play a vital role in the community, and it’s fantastic that Westminster Council is recognising this with this pay increase.

Providing staff with a proper living wage will encourage skilled care workers to stay in their jobs and deliver the best possible care for local residents. We hope other councils will follow this great example and make the commitment to decent employment conditions for care workers by signing UNISON’s Ethical Care Charter.