Berkeley Home Health is increasing staff pay rates from April 2023.
The company will offer care assistants at its Somerset and Wiltshire branch a minimum of £15 per hour, which it hopes will help them “see that social care offers good pay and opportunities”.
The new rate equates to an annual full-time salary of £31,500 for the 10 employees set to benefit from the rise.
Andrew Needham, CEO, commented: “Our care assistant hourly pay in the area is 40% more than the planned minimum wage of £10.42 per hour from April 2023.
“We want people who might have thought their future was in retail, the service industry or even leisure see that social care offers good pay and opportunities. We firmly believe that satisfied carer colleagues means stability and even better care for our clients.”
Somerset and Wiltshire branch manager Abigail Needs said: “The pay rises are a good step forward. They show just how committed Berkeley is to its team. The company wants to make sure everyone takes home a decent wage and it’s a very inclusive employer.”
As well as introducing the pay rise, Berkeley Home Health is also starting a six-month recruitment campaign to hire between 30 and 60 carers.
The in-home visiting care company, which supports vulnerable and elderly people in the UK, is planning to expand the Somerset and Wiltshire team with five to 10 carers a month due to “planned strategic growth and increasing demand for visiting in-home care services” and will extend the pay increases to new joiners on a starting salary of £15 per hour.
Needham explained the business was excited to offer the new roles and said the company would offer training for those who needed it.
He added: “Every carer is an individual just like our clients, some have ambitions to develop their career working towards management level and others are looking for a care role that fits in with their family and lifestyle, we have the capacity to be able to support both. We are committed to delivering a best-in-class care service to our clients and that for us means investing and valuing our carers.”
Berkeley also offers staff a workplace pension, fuel allowance, company-paid travel time, training and company-paid DBS checks and access to an employee online portal.
