Parties debate solving Plymouth's social care shortage

Care worker Sophie Bradbury said the sector's low pay needed to be "sorted"

With hundreds of job vacancies in adult social care in Plymouth and the city council spending about £90m each year, it is one of the election priorities.

Voters in the city will take to the polls on Thursday 5 May to decide about a third of the city council's seats.

Across the south-west of England there are thousands of vacancies in the sector.

A full list of candidates for Plymouth City Council is available on the authority's website.

Care worker, Sophie Bradbury, who works at Thornbury Villa Care Home in Plymouth, said the rising cost of living was not being matched with wage rises.

"There's not much money in the care sector for people like me to come and do the job. I think that needs to be sorted."

Central government recently said the Health and Social Care Levy would deliver £39bn into the health and social care system over the next three years.

It said it had also handed the social care sector half a billion pounds to attract and retain staff.

Care home workers have said their wages were not rising as fast as inflation

Care manager Kelly Mano, from the same care home, said: "Potentially what they have given in to providers is a great start but if we're realistic about things it's not going to go very far."

Adult social care is one of the most expensive services provided by Plymouth City Council with it currently costing about £19m a year and rising.

Despite this, there are vacancies for about 500 care workers in the city.

Cindy Willocks, the home's owner, said: "There's a greater level of expectation that you'll do more for less.

"And actually any business won't do that.

"The reason that I'm here as a provider is that I really care about people and I want them to have the best life possible."

Plymouth is currently short by about 500 care workers, Conservative Councillor Rebecca Smith said

Conservative councillor Rebecca Smith told BBC Radio Devon: "Our new cabinet member who has responsibility for this [adult social care] is actually a retired healthcare professional.

"So what we now have is somebody who has been on the coal face who will be tackling this, which I think is a really key appointment.

"Your listeners might have spotted the Proud to Care campaign across the city on our buses on billboards.

"That's a practical piece of work that's been done with that money to recruit because we've got a 500 or thereabouts shortage of staff in Plymouth alone.

"We want to make sure we do something with that and that has been really successful to date."

Labour councillor Jemima Laing said social care needed a "national strategy"

Labour councillor Jemima Laing said: "This really is something that needs a national solution, a national strategy, a national plan.

"I think the council has done a really good recruitment campaign.

"We can make the argument why Plymouth is a great place to live and work and all the rest of it.

"But if wages don't increase and if we do not have a national plan from the government for this there is only so much local authorities can do.

"And it's one of the most important things we do as a council, caring for our elderly and for our most vulnerable."

Liberal Democrat spokesman Chris Oram said his party would "constantly lobby the current administration to do more"

Liberal Democrat spokesman Chris Oram said: "Central government should be doing more to help local administrations sort this out.

"And you [Michael Chequer, BBC Radio Devon presenter] said that is it a question of money. I understand why Rebecca hesitates, because by saying yes she has to admit that her party at a national level, isn't funding her properly.

"We're not going to be able to magic up any money, but we are going to be councillors in opposition who are going to be constantly lobbying the current administration to do more."

Plymouth Green Party spokesman James Ellwood said the current state of adult social care was "scandalous"

Green Party spokesman James Ellwood said: "The scale of the crisis in adult social care across the country and here in Plymouth is scandalous, with thousands struggling to have basic care needs met.

"If there is one thing that the pandemic made abundantly clear, it's that many of our key workers who provide these crucial services are undervalued and taken for granted by this government, and as a result we've seen an exodus from the sector.

"The current NHS backlog won't be cleared until the problems in social care are tackled, and that should start by properly valuing our care workers, rebuilding the profession and making it appealing to work in - the Green Party is therefore committed to improving pay and conditions for social care.

"We also believe the government's Health and Social Care Levy through the National Insurance rise is an unfair way to fund the investment we need to make in social care.

"We would instead introduce a Wealth Tax which doesn't discriminate against lower paid workers in the way that National Insurance evidently does."