Inclusion challenges for women and ethnic minorities
The financial inclusion challenges faced by the social care workforce have been revealed in a new report, with women and ethnic minorities most affected.
On September 11th, a group of 30 leaders from social care providers gathered for an event hosted by Care England and Wagestream to review a first of its kind report, Inclusion at the Crossroads which highlights the financial inclusion challenges faced by social care staff, particularly women and ethnic minorities, who are more likely to grapple with two key predictors of financial exclusion: lower pay and variable income.
For an industry with 131,000 vacancies, inclusivity is vital. Not only for recruitment, but for retention, engagement and ensuring the sector responds correctly to the needs of an increasingly diverse population.
While the report stresses that employers alone cannot solve these issues, particularly when poor commissioning is at play, it emphasises the role they can play in alleviating them and makes a series of recommendations providers can adopt at little or no cost to make a significant difference:
(1) Meet the standards for living hours as provided by the Living Wage Foundation.
(2) Provide support for employees to access state assistance they are entitled to.
(3) Implement a payroll savings program, ideally on an opt-out basis, to help employees build savings by default.
(4) Review workplace policies and benefits through the lens of DE&I and prioritise providing financial security benefits that are useful and accessible for the whole workforce.
Professor Martin Green OBE, CEO of Care England commented: “For a sector as diverse as social care, inclusion is crucial. This groundbreaking report has highlighted financial exclusion as a challenge for every provider to be aware of. While solving this is not solely an employer’s responsibility, there are clear steps providers can take to support care workers at little or no cost, particularly for women and those from ethnic minority groups”
Click here to download the report
Click here to download the easy read
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