‘I would like personally for Mel Stride to come with me on a bootcamp for carers’
An LBC caller has slammed the Tories new plan to offer ‘skills bootcamps’ to benefit claimants in a desperate bid to tackle “recruitment challenges”, caused by government’s own curbs on migration.
This Tuesday, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride announced a ministerial taskforce to tackle recruitment in hard-to-fill sectors such as social care, by offering job training bootcamps to the unemployed which he added would help in “cutting the benefits bill”.
The UK’s largest union UNISON slammed the scheme as a “desperate attempt to distract voters from government care failings”. UNISON head of social care Gavin Edwards said it was a “foolish idea” that showed how ministers are “clueless” on how to fix care.
One caller on LBC laid into Mel Stride and blasted “the stupidity of his comments” as she suggested why the government is in this position to begin with.
Speaking to presenter Ben Kentish, Donna from Kensington said: “I would like personally for (Mel Stride) to come with me on a bootcamp for carers, and I would like him, bootcamp style, to look after a person with double incontinence. Caring is something that you have to want to do, you cannot be forced to do it.”
Commenting on the UK’s reliance on overseas workers in many sectors, the caller stressed why this could be the case.
“Why can’t they get the staff here? Because people are not properly paid.” said Donna. “People are ill and they can’t be properly looked after, if this is sorted out here there will be no reason for companies to go and get people from other countries.”
The presenter suggested: “If the government wants to attract more people to become say carers, maybe they should pay them what they deserve, and not work them to the bone, not under-fund social care, there’s an idea.”
UNISON said the solution to the recruitment crisis in social care is “staring ministers in the face”, as the union calls for a fair pay agreement for care and for a National Care Service.
(Image credit: UK Government)
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward
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