Home carers in South Lanarkshire set to protest over demands for pay increase

Home carers in South Lanarkshire are set to hold a demonstration in demand of a pay increase from the council.

The protest, organised by trade union Unison, will be held on December 7 outside the council’s HQ.

The demonstration is set to coincide with a full council meeting and will involve home carers from across the local authority area.

The protest stems from the result of a job evaluation carried out by the council, carers asked the local authority to re-evaluate the grade for the job due to the workers taking on more responsibility during Covid.

The council ultimately decided not to change the grade of the job meaning the workers would not receive a pay rise.

Branch Secretary of Unison South Lanarkshire, Stephen Smellie, said the council’s decision has led to home carers’ moral being ‘shot in the foot’ and it was ‘a real insult to the heroes who worked hard during covid’.

Home Carers will protest at the demonstration and urge the council to reevaluate and make councillors and the public aware of the hard work they carry out.

The union are not proposing a strike, but are hoping the council listen and re assess their decision and grant home carers a higher pay.

Kay McVeigh, head of personnel services at South Lanarkshire Council, said: “We hugely value the work undertaken by all of our staff and that is why we are committed to offering good terms and conditions. Most recently, the council administration’s New Deal for Employees brought forward a range of new initiatives and benefits, including an extra day’s wellbeing leave this year.

“We have a clear process in place, developed with our trade unions, for occasions when any group requests a job evaluation. In this case the evaluation concluded that the current grade was accurate. However, there is an appeal process that trade union colleagues helped put in place and we would encourage them to follow this process if they feel the job evaluation has not fully reflected the range and complexity of the role.”

Not all home carers will be at the demonstration, half will be at work, Unison are not asking carers to miss work to attend the protest. Despite this, the union is expecting a sizable turnout.

The demonstration will begin at 9.30am ahead of the full council meeting which will begin at 10am.