Zero hours contracts are commonly used for trades such as painters and decorators, today, it was reported in Local Givt news that they are being used commonly in care contracts of Councils as follows:
Council commissioning practices are increasing the use of zero hours contracts and damaging home care standards, according to a trade union.
A crisis in home care is being worsened by councils which are commissioning care from a large number of providers on contracts which do not guarantee work, Unison said.
According to a Freedom of Information request undertaken by the trade union, over half of councils commission care from 20 or more providers, more than 20 commission from over 50 providers, and nine authorities buy services from over 100 organisations.
Out of 196 responding councils, 97% use contracts which don’t guarantee care providers any long term work.
Unison said such practices fuel the use of zero hours contracts, with the resultant high staff turnover having a detrimental impact on services for elderly and vulnerable people.
Unison head of local government, Heather Wakefield, said: ‘The rise in zero hours contacts in homecare shames councils and leads to worse care for our elderly and vulnerable.
‘When councils commission care from a large number of providers there’s a greater chance that they won’t be guaranteeing care companies a set number of hours. This uncertainty is passed onto already low paid care workers in the form of zero hours contracts.
‘We want councils to look again at the way they commission homecare services. We’ve drawn up an ethical care charter which sets out the minimum standards they should abide by when commissioning care services.’