“Don’t ever call us unskilled again!”

“Don’t ever call us unskilled again!” is a recent report from Paradigm, gathering observations and insights of 118 Support Workers working with people who have learning disabilities and/or autism during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For many years Social Care has been underinvested in, undervalued and invisible to many. Many members of the public are unaware of the importance of Social Care and how it is a lifeline to millions of people across the UK from the moment of birth to the moment of death.

The report highlights the invisibility of Social Care amongst the general public has meant that horrific cuts to services and budgets have been largely unnoticed and unchallenged. This has led to it’s amazing workforce being overlooked, underpaid, unappreciated and even referred to by senior ministers in the Government as ‘unskilled’.

Good stuff happens in social care every day and the Covid-19 pandemic has brought all of this into extreme focus. 

The report is based on responses from The Gr8 Support Covid-19 Snapshot survey, which invited Support Workers across the country to capture their experiences, thoughts, ideas and learning during the pandemic and share these with the nation. The main details covered were:

– How support workers responded during the pandemic with thoughtfulness, creativity and dedication.

– Some key messages and ‘must haves’ for moving forward beyond the pandemic.

– The plea of Support Workers to be valued and recognised as essential and highly skilled members of the Social Care workforce, not just now but as society moves forward.

To check out the report yourself from Paradigm (written by Sally Warren and Jo Giles) find it here: https://bit.ly/2C6ZMEt or find more information on: https://paradigm-uk.org/

View and print bulletin Worker Experience during the Pandemic