Councils should be publicly ‘named and shamed’ if they commission social care employers that pay less than minimum wage, a union claims.
Unison has written to business secretary Vince Cable, urging government departments to clamp down on non-compliance of minimum wage legislation in social care.
While the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has recently started naming companies who do not pay the minimum wage, councils that are also implicated have so far gone unmentioned.
A recent survey by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services revealed 19% of councils in England did not know whether homecare provider they commissioned were paying their staff the minimum wage.
Unison has warned some local authorities are commissioning these services at ‘dangerously low rates’, greatly increasing the likelihood of non-compliance with minimum wage laws.
‘The lack of action to address the problem of 200,000 care workers being paid below the National Minimum Wage is staggering and we are urging the Government to do more,’ Heather Wakefield, Unison head of local government, said.
‘Whilst the onus must remain on the care employers to comply, councils must take far more responsibility to ensure that they commission in a responsible manner.
‘An official government policy of naming and shaming would be a very effective way of reminding councils of their responsibility for the way in which public funds are used, and the impact of illegal underpayment on the quality of care,’ Wakefield added.
