South Wales-based Aria Care Home, the trading name of Arcadia Care Homes, has increased pay for all employees by 30%, implementing a minimum hourly rate of £13.
The Newport business has 24 employees, about to rise to 26, and was accredited as a real living wage employer in 2021. At the time, it stated that this was only one milestone in ensuring it delivered the right level of pay for its workforce. The real living wage rate for 2023 was raised to £10.90.
Aria Care Home made its largest ever increase to pay in order to recognise that care worker roles are significantly more skilled than suggested by the current market standard. The organisation is also committed to compensating its team proportionately as part of a wider national conversation.
Ali Al-Mufti, managing director of Arcadia Care Homes, said: “We’ve waited too long for the sector to take the steps to pay our workforce correctly, so we’ve taken it upon ourselves to make the change.
“We have to take the stand that care is skilled work with a huge responsibility. The conversation is more important than just talking about a living wage and helping people to make ends meet. The living wage could be triple what it is, it will still be the minimum level that unskilled roles can earn. That’s not how fair renumeration works.
“Increasing the rate of pay by 30% is a paradigm shift that puts our workforce ahead of other sectors that we’ve been forced to compete with. We’ve been fighting to make a meaningful change in the rate of pay for years, and I’m very happy that we’ve finally been able to implement the kind of pay rise that matters.”
In addition to compensation, the business operates four-day maximum working weeks, with 12 month rotas in advance in order for staff to best plan holidays and other elements of work-life balance. It also provides unlimited employer-paid counselling for any reason, work or personal, to all employees.
Aria Care Home told Employee Benefits that its approach to employees experience was to remove worry and stress, including financial concerns at home, with the goal being retention and a happy workforce.