Although the five largest care providers in the UK say they support the increase in wage for over 25’s to National Living Wage guidelines of £7.20 per hour, they do warn that without government help the result could be a “catastrophic collapse”. According to the BBC news health website the government has therefore said that social care would be considered as part of the spending review later this year.
The measure, which is likely to cost the care sector £1bn by 2020 is hugely beneficial to hundreds of thousands of care workers across the UK; but without the correct management and funding could see care homes close within the first two years. Staffing costs count for approximately 60% of expenditure at many care homes so come April next year care home management will need to look at ways to increase productivity, decrease surrounding costs and manage their teams more productively.
At FISC healthcare we work with a number of care homes that are currently looking at the structure of their internal teams and ways to maximise their output. As part of our CareHomeLife brand we work closely with them in providing training and business support to help maximise their occupancy, drive down costs and improve internal culture and staff retention.
The move to the National Living Wage could clearly send huge shockwaves across the care industry, but with the correct management and the right partners could provide the sector with happier and more productive staff, tighter processes in house and a dignity in care for residents that may not have been experienced for a while.
Eddy Fishwick
Managing Director
FISC healthcare.
