SPAEN’s CEO has warmly welcomed the Scottish Government and CoSLA’s agreement to implement an uplift in the hourly rate of pay for Personal Assistants working in Adult Social Care this winter.
The Scottish Government has confirmed that agreement has been reached and funding will be made available to ensure that all eligible Personal Assistants and other Adult Social Care workers will be paid at least £10.02 per hour from 1st December 2021. Full details of how and when this additional funding will be available to PA employers is still being worked on and may vary across each of the Health & Social Care Partnerships and local authority councils but the commitment guarantees that wage rates will be uplifted and where there are delays in getting the funding in place, the uplift will be backdated to 1st December 2021.
Commenting on the agreed uplift and announcement, Colin Millar, SPAEN CEO, reflected “during the COVID-19 pandemic, it became acutely apparent just how important the adult social care workforce is to Scottish society and ensuring the well-being of so many in our communities. Their dedication, commitment and work being recognised in this pay uplift, which is being fully funded by the Scottish Government and delivered in partnership with CoSLA and the HSCP’s, is extremely welcome and undoubtedly well deserved.“
The Scottish Government has confirmed that the uplift will be recurring, meaning that the new hourly rate of £10.02 per hour for adult social care workers will continue to be met and fully funded by the Government in future years.
The uplift also applies to people employing Personal Assistants through awards from ILF Scotland.
SPAEN has been working with the Scottish Government and other key stakeholders to look at the PA Workforce and how this vital role is promoted and supported going forward and further details will be available on this shortly.