Hero carers 'abandoned' after Covid

SOCIAL care workers say they've gone from heroes to zeroes after the pandemic and accuse the government of abandoning them.

- BY HANNAH RODGER

Hundreds of carers at charity Enable are to strike next week in a pay row the first national walkout of its kind in 13 years.

Trade union Unison, which represents the staff, said Holyrood ministers have reneged on pledges to give carers better pay and a £38million pot set aside in 2023 has been spent elsewhere.

Despite wages for social care workers across the country being set 52p an hour above the Scottish living wage (SLW) during the pandemic, the rises have slowed in the years since.

While Enable staff are holding a series of one-day walkouts, the union said wages and conditions at other providers are also too low. The union's Scotland social care organiser Wendy Hudson said: "The fact this dispute has been ongoing for years tells you what a difficult decision it is for social care staff to strike.