Pay rise for Edinburgh carers given official seal of approval

Care workers in the Capital will finally get the “immediate” pay rise they were promised by Health Secretary Jeane Freeman in April in recognition of their efforts during the Covid crisis.

Care staff were promised an "immediate" rise in April

At a meeting of the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board (EIJB) today, city health bosses unanimously approved implementing a 3.3 per cent pay rise for adult social care workers, in line with Ms Freeman’s announcement they would all receive the Scottish Living Wage of £9.30 an hour.

But the move will mean an extra £3.4 million of cuts to Edinburgh’s health and social care budget.

According to official EIJB reports, the Scottish Government had worked on the assumption that boards would have budgeted for a 2.5 per cent pay increase and had therefore only funded the remaining 0.8 per cent.

The report says as a result the EIJB has received £1.15 million which left a gap of £3.4 million on top of the £15 million savings it already needs to find.

The report says when Ms Freeman announced the pay rise, she accepted some boards would be adversely impacted and promised to engage with them, but despite several meetings between officials “it is now clear that no further funding will be provided”.

A spokesperson for the EIJB said: “We recognise the key roles that health and social care workers play, and the importance of providing them with suitable support and compensation.

“Last week the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board announced that we will spend £17m on support for unpaid carers over the next eight years – the largest ever investment associated with carer support in Edinburgh – and today we have agreed to progress a 3.3% uplift on the payments we make to providers contracted to deliver health and social care.”

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