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A Fife Councillor has called for more support to help Home Care workers with rising petrol costs as part of Fife Labour Council efforts to mitigate the effects of the SNP / Tory recession.
Cllr. Graeme Downie, Scottish Labour Councillor for West Fife & Coastal Villages, who is also a member of the Fife Health & Social Care Board, has written to Council Health Spokesperson, Cllr. David Graham, asking for home care workers to be given the same 5p per mile allowance increase granted to NHS staff earlier this year.
Cllr. Downie has asked for the allowance to be increased immediately, payments to be backdated to April 2022 and for the support to continue for the remainder of the financial year.
In his email he points out cuts to local government budgets by the SNP Scottish Government and the unwillingness of the UK Tory government to take action but Cllr. Downie believes the Fife Labour Council must do all it can to help home care workers to prevent a staffing crisis.
Commenting, Cllr Downie said:
“Home care workers are essential to our health & social care system but they are being penalised because they have to use their cars to be able to help the most vulnerable in our society.”
“Home care workers should receive the same increase in petrol allowance of 5p per mile that NHS colleagues received back in April and this should be backdated so they receive the same level of assistance.”
“I have written to Cllr. Graham asking him to explore this issue in more detail as well as the feasibility of having this increase in place for the remainder of the financial year 2022/23.”
Full text of email to Cllr. David Graham.
“Dear Cllr. Graham
Thank you for your time earlier this week to discuss my concerns regarding the disparity in mileage allowances between NHS staff and home workers in my Ward and across Fife.
We discussed the difficulties of cuts to local budgets by the SNP Scottish Government in Edinburgh and the unwillingness of the UK Tory government to take action to help tackle the impacts of fuel increases.
I know these circumstances mean we are limited in the action we can take but I believe we must do all we can to help people with rising fuel and food costs, particularly in the face of the oncoming SNP / Tory recession.
You will be aware that in April 2022, NHS staff were given temporary increase of 5p per mile in their mileage allowance. As I mentioned to you I am concerned home care workers are being placed at significant disadvantage by not having the same increase granted to them.
This situation creates the possibility that our already under pressure social care services feel undervalued, leading to difficulty in maintaining and attracting staff to provide this essential services which looks after the most vulnerable people across Fife.
As I mentioned at our meeting, I am asking if you could explore the possibility of:
- Increasing the mileage allowance for home care works by 5p per mile.
- Backdating this increase to April 2022.
- Keeping this measure in place for the remainder of the financial year 2022/23.
I hope you will agree with me that Fife Labour must do all we can to support and help our social care staff even as the SNP and Tories sit on the sidelines.
I look forward to your response.”