People we support invite Jacob Rees-Mogg MP to visit

On Friday 2nd February, people we support, family and colleagues in Bristol invited North East Somerset MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg into their home to talk about social care, problems the sector is facing…and cars and James Bond.

In this particular home of some people we support, we provide personalised, full-time support to older people who have learning disabilities, are autistic and/or are on the dementia pathway.

“The heartfelt attention to and encouragement of their interests by the staff is magical.”

Jacob was invited by the people who live there, who asked to speak with him about the issues important to them, and for him to meet the support workers helping them live active and fulfilling lives. The people and their loved ones sat with him to share more about their experiences.

The people who live in the home also asked Jacob where he lived, the car he drives, and they discussed how their rooms were decorated.

Anita Clelland, whose son Joshua lives at the home said: “It was good to meet our local MP who took a genuine interest in the people who live here. I was able to talk to him about my son and raise concern about recruitment because of low pay in the sector which Dimensions has limited control over.”

Joshua’s mother explained the problems facing organisations like Dimensions, who need to pay high agency rates because care and support roles are not paid adequately, and this affects the people we support and their continuity of care.

Jacob’s visit comes at a time when the social care sector is facing extreme pressure, with many skilled care and support workers moving to better paid roles elsewhere as the cost-of-living crisis continues. The core staff team spoke with him about their rewarding but challenging work, the difficulties facing social care, and the ongoing challenge of pay.

In the past three years a typical sales assistant has gone from earning 13 pence per hour less than a care and support worker to 21p more. This shift is having a huge impact on people’s career choices, resulting in 152,000 job vacancies across social care, and many people needing care but not receiving it.

Ludo Leclerc, Locality Manager said: “I welcome Jacob Rees-Mogg’s visit to Keynsham. It’s an opportunity for him to see the rewarding, skilled and often challenging work we do to support older adults with a learning disability and autism who are on the dementia pathway. It’s difficult to see how recruitment and retention can be addressed without additional funding by the government to enable local authorities to pay more for the support they commission. That’s why we are calling for minimum support worker pay to be set at NHS band 3 level which would also establish parity of esteem between those working in the NHS and social care.”

In May 2023, Dimensions launched a petition calling for government to align minimum care worker pay to NHS Band 3, currently £11.67 – £12.45 per hour outside of London. This would set care and support workers alongside, for example, therapy assistants, pharmacy assistants, administrative workers and clerical staff. The Save Our Social Care petition has received overwhelming public support, with 78,500 signatures so far.

People supported by Dimensions around the country are inviting their local MPs to visit their homes, and to engage with the social care workforce about the issues facing the sector.

Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, MP for North East Somerset, said: “The care provided is inspirational. People with serious challenges in their lives are helped to be as independent as possible. The heartfelt attention to and encouragement of their interests by the staff is magical. The residents are treated properly as individuals regardless of their learning difficulties.”

About these visits

It’s important for the people we support to be active citizens and engage in politics, as many already do. With this in mind, we asked the people we support if they would like to write to their constituency MP and leading prospective parliamentary candidate to ask for a visit to their home. For those who said yes, we’re supporting them to make this happen.

Taking a cross-party approach, this visit is the first one in a series because we need to invite as many MPs and prospective parliamentary candidates as possible to the homes of people we support so that they can see for themselves the support we offer, to improve their understanding of the lives of younger adults who rely on social care. Growing unmet need and a difficult workforce environment mean this is a policy area that must no longer be ignored.