Disability services group issues fresh demand on government to resolve confusion in overnight support.
Long-running uncertainty about payments and funding for sleep in staff has created huge uncertainty in social care for many years. Current social care funding fails to fully recognise the contribution that staff make to improving people’s lives.
The Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG) representing charities that provide services for disabled people, today publishes a new position statement on the issue.
The statement outlines the national association’s “grave concerns” over the lack of clear regulations for the payment of overnight support. VODG warns that this will drive the social care market to move in uncoordinated ways and lead to “inconsistent commissioning and provision.”
VODG makes several recommendations to resolve the sleep-in confusion, including:
- the government must consult widely with workers, employers, commissioners and other stakeholders and clarify what hard working staff are entitled to, and precisely how it, and commissioners, will fund this
- commissioners and providers must work together
- a confirm from government that the current legal position means employers will not face potential HMRC retrospective action to recover underpayment of national minimum wage for sleep in work.
Read the full position statement here