A major campaign has been launched to raise the status of care workers in Wales.
It is one of the priorities in a historic agreement reached by organisations representing the care sectors in the four home nations and Eire.
The protocol was finalised at the Five Nations Conference held in Cardiff in what was the biannual event’s first visit to Wales since its inception two years ago.
Mario Kreft, the Honorary Chief Executive of Care Forum Wales, who hosted the conference, is passionate about promoting the importance of care workers across the UK and Ireland.
Mr Kreft said: “The new protocol agreed in Cardiff is a ground-breaking commitment for the care sectors in the different countries to work together for the greater good.
“The aim is to promote a unified approach by bringing provider organisations together at a time of austerity when we need sustainable services and innovation.
“The people who work in social care are central to everything we do. Anybody who has needed a care worker will know they are absolutely a life saver.
“They promote independence, often enabling people to live at home much longer than would otherwise the case and, when that’s not possible, supporting people in residential or nursing homes.
“There are more than a million of them across the UK and Ireland looking after some of the most vulnerable people in society.
“Care workers are without doubt some of the most important people in the economy.
“They are the glue that binds society together, sustaining the whole economic model by allowing people to work, by allowing people to raise their children and so on.
“Fundamentally they’re important because without social care workers the NHS as we know it would cease to function.
“The organisations providing social care are often SMEs or voluntary organisations but taken together there are over 1.5 million social care workers providing care for literally millions of people across the UK.
“As a group we have put raising the status of care workers as an absolute priority. These are highly trained, highly skilled people but sadly often totally overlooked in terms of the general scheme of things.”
“We established the Wales Care Awards nine years ago and I’m delighted to say it has now been replicated in other four nations countries because of its success.
“We know these are challenging times and above all our role is about providing the very best means for social care workers to deliver their job.
“One of the key elements of the protocol is to promote quality, share best practice. There’s little point in somebody doing something innovative and wonderful and not telling anybody about it. There is absolutely no point being the best kept secret.
The Five Nations conference also agreed to urge the Government to reduce the VAT rate to the lowest possible figure that’s possible under European law.for social care providers.
They said it would make paying for care more affordable for local authorities and the NHS – while helping to stimulate the economy at the same time.
According to Mike Padgham, the Chair of the United Kingdom Home Care Association, the 2.5 per cent hike on VAT to 20 per cent adds up to an unfair tax on vulnerable people.
He said: “The Five Nations members want a much more progressive approach to taxation.
“Currently we have a 20 per cent tax on providing better standards in social care. Most of the general public in the UK would not believe that tax is not reclaimable for those providing care – and that includes hospices.
It was a sentiment echoed by Martin Green, the Chief Executive of the English Community Care Association.
Mr Green said: “We believe it would be far more to do as they’ve done in other EU countries to try and get people to stimulate the economy and in so doing promote higher standards and support vulnerable people with even better quality services.
“In the UK, reduced rates of VAT already exist for things like listed buildings – surely caring for vulnerable people is even more important.”
