'People look at us as cleaners': care workers feel stretched and undervalued

“My ex-husband fixes cars, and I fix people. Like lots of men he says: ‘I couldn’t do the job you are doing’, but I couldn’t be a car mechanic. So why should he get more money for being a car mechanic and I get less for actually keeping a person independent in their own house?”

The state of social care in the UK has come under increasing scrutiny, with policymakers, commissioners and providers debating the long-term sustainability of services, but an important voice – that of frontline staff – has been largely absent from discussions.

A new book gives an unprecedented insight into the experiences of homecare workers. Based on extensive interviews with staff in the sector, it reveals a proud and skilled workforce who feel underfunded, overstretched and undervalued.

Lydia Hayes, author of Stories of Care: A Labour of Law, argues that the low pay, poor status and lack of respect they experience is due to the fact this workforce is mostly female and working class.

A lecturer in law at Cardiff University, Hayes researches employment law with a focus on the care sector, and as part of her research for the book, and to help give a voice to these workers, she interviewed 30 homecare staff – all working-class women – at length.

“I realised that as a consequence of the sexism and class bias they experience, they are subject to a number of tensions in the way they talk about their work,” she says. “On the one hand, they talk about the work as being incredibly satisfying and worthwhile. On the other, they can talk about it as something which strips their personal dignity, takes away their self-confidence and leaves them in tears at the end of the day.”

Hayes, who hopes her book will be read by politicians, senior managers, trade unions, care campaigners and those involved in social policy development, as well as academics, says care staff are victims of what she terms “institutional humiliation”.

One care worker told her: “A lot of people still look at us as cleaners or the general dogsbody”, while another commented: “In bloody Asda they get more than what I do”.

To try to capture the different experiences of homecare staff, Hayes examines four key areas in her book. One chapter examines issues of pay in the sector, where workers believe they are paid less because they are mostly women. Another chapter details the insecurity of their work, the constant worries about money and fear of instant dismissal. In the third chapter, care workers talk about their love for their jobs and their willingness to work unpaid to fill gaps in provision, while the final chapter discusses how workers engage with care policy.

“The government talks about homecare as though it is an activity that saves money because it reduces so-called ‘bed blocking’ and is cheaper than institutionalised care,” says Hayes. Meanwhile, half a million dedicated homecare workers “are not involved in those discussions, because their opinions and knowledge appear to count for nothing. It’s hardly surprising that homecare workers feel undervalued and unconfident.”

The homecare sector has a higher annual turnover of staff than any sector in the UK economy, Hayes notes, as more than a third of workers leave their jobs each year, with around half of new recruits moving on to a new job within less than 12 months.

Understanding what brings staff into the sector, motivates those who do stay and concerns workers is essential if the sector is to get to grips with its recruitment and retention issues.

Ultimately, Hayes argues that for homecare workers to feel truly valued and respected, employment law must be reformed, and in such a way that frontline care workers have a voice.

“Homecare workers need to be involved in formulating policy, to be able to influence the sector and secure [employment] contracts that recognise their skills, dedication and importance,” she says.

To achieve this, Hayes calls for a system of collective bargaining, through which homecare workers elect representatives who would then negotiate with the government and employers for acceptable terms and conditions of work.

“Making care a collective responsibility was the massive achievement of the 20th century; it enabled people to have more choices about the way they live their lives. In the 21st century, that system is being destroyed,” says Hayes. “We need to protect social care, and to respect and value care work. That means we need changes to labour law.”

She adds of homecare workers: “They are expected to be incredibly tender and incredibly tough to do the job well. They have this capacity for connecting and engaging with people, encouraging them to do things that might seem like simple tasks, but can be enormous mountains.”

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