Around 200 new home carers to be recruited by council

Around 200 new home carers are set to be recruited to “build resilience” ahead of a potential second wave of Covid-19.

Glasgow City Council is planning to launch a recruitment drive next month to increase the number of home care, residential care and day care staff before winter.

Lockdown rules have prevented the council from taking on more staff until now.

Susanne Miller, interim chief officer at Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership (GCHSCP), said: “We’re over-recruiting in home care to build more resilience in that workforce.

“Elsewhere we didn’t see any significant areas where we couldn’t cover, in relation to workforce.”

At the council’s operational performance and delivery scrutiny committee meeting, councillor Ade Aibinu asked whether current arrangements are “sufficient should there be a second wave of the pandemic”.

Ms Miller added: “We think it is, apart from home care, which is why we are moving to do that recruitment.”

The extra staff will support current home care employees who “have been working relentlessly throughout the pandemic”, a council spokeswoman said.

She added: “The council intends to launch its recruitment drive for home care, residential care and day care staff next month.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted our ability to recruit any sooner, due to the situation surrounding employers’ ability to interview and train people since the city began lockdown – and the legislation that applied.

“The rules surrounding lockdown – and our ability to recruit and train – have been relaxed so we are now planning to advertise for additional staff.”

Ms Miller told the council meeting a big issue had been “the number of home carers we had who were shielding or had underlying health problems”.

“That was our biggest challenge in our workforce,” she said.

The council spokeswoman said the authority is ideally seeking to fill between 150 and 200 posts in the home care sector.

She added: “This will allow us to augment our current home care staff numbers and support our dedicated home care employees who have been working relentlessly throughout the pandemic.

“Doing so, will allow them to take time off as annual leave and assist us in meeting any additional demand on the service as we approach winter.

“We’re also pleased to offer employment opportunities to citizens seeking work.”

By Local Democracy Reporter Drew Sandelands