Vote the Tories out tomorrow: a support worker’s view
For anyone still sitting on the fence regarding tomorrow's general election, let me tell you what has been happening where I work, supporting people with learning disabilities, such as Downs Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy.
I have been supporting people in my organisation, a charity that is totally funded by local government, since 2010. In that year, the organisation's budget was cut by 25% as that local council was told it had to make millions in savings due to austerity measures put in place by the newly elected government.
My organisation, based in London, dealt with this reduction in core revenue by cutting wages of staff, the majority of whom being support workers, the people who support the people with learning disabilities with every aspect of their day to day lives. They weren't on much to start with, but their wages were cut, and stayed the same for the next 4 years at roughly £16,000 per annum. The London Living Wage is just over £19,000 per annum.
So what? Well, first, a lot of people left. With increased staff turnover comes more new faces, more reliance on agency staff. Imagine that for the people we support, different faces every day helping you with your most intimate tasks, not knowing how your disability affects you, not knowing what might trigger something really upsetting or stressful.
£16k is pretty difficult to live on in London. Alone, let alone with a mortgage and/or family. Support workers have had to do more overtime. Support work is a rewarding, amazing job at its best. It is also often extremely stressful and hard work. Over-time means doing long days, 12, 13 hours, working on your day off.
Again, translate that for the people we support. The support workers who help them with everything from getting up in the morning, going to the toilet and having a shower to supporting people with achieving their hopes and dreams, are inevitably more fatigued, less motivated, worn out by a tough job for little money, whilst an admin assistant in the same city sits at a computer for at least £20k. People who don't move up move on; more new faces who don't know you and how you like to be supported. At best you have to live with a procession of different people you don't know or trust supporting you with your private and intimate affairs. At worst it creates an unstable environment where abuse is far more likely.
Have I mentioned day service cuts? People with learning disabilities’ social lives have been ripped apart as day services across the city have been shut down or minimised, deemed to not be a necessity. Having friends is not deemed to be a necessity. These are often people who cannot speak for themselves, who need extra support to make friends and socialise, from specialist services. Cut.
Meanwhile, and especially since 2015, people we support have had to prove that they even have a disability. I know one person who had to prove his learning disability twice to gain Personal Independence Payments payments, after being told his Disability Living Allowance would be ending. He has had a learning disability since birth, which makes work impossible for him. We got to the assessment meetings and the staff had no idea why we were there. It was extremely stressful for him, to have to justify his existence just to gain the means to live. And then we had to go back, as they’d lost the record of our first meeting.
These are cuts that don't get reported. They are two or three steps down the line from the initial policy, but if you trace it to source it comes back the the initial Tory cut, the failed austerity.
This is just a microcosm of what is going on across social care and public services. The Conservatives don't care about vulnerable people. They will mind their Ps and Qs whilst instigating processes that down the line destroy people's lives whilst keeping their own heads above water.
Another five years could make it much worse. Don't sit on the fence. Don't stay at home. Vote the tories out tomorrow.
