Age Cymru welcomes plans to improve social care contracts

Age Cymru has today welcomed Welsh Government plans to improve conditions for domiciliary care workers by curbing zero hours contracts and ensuring workers are allocated enough time to deliver high quality, dignified care.

The charity said providing care workers with proper employment contracts will help to reduce high levels of staff turnover and thereby encourage better relationships between carers and clients. This will be particularly important in supporting the estimated 60% of clients living with dementia.

Government proposals to differentiate between travel and care times were also supported. The charity said that as the numbers of older people living with complex needs are increasing, it is becoming more difficult to deliver effective, client centred care within strict time deadlines.

Age Cymru's chief executive Ian Thomas said: "Domiciliary care workers are often undervalued by society despite the fact they play a crucial role in helping older people to remain living in their own home for as long as possible. In effect domiciliary care workers are often the cornerstone in upholding an older person's basic human rights.

"If we recognise this massively important contribution then we can start to look at funding the sector properly. This will enable local authorities to commission care providers with viable contracts so they can provide their workforce with decent wages, work practices and training which will result in better quality of care for the most vulnerable members of our communities."