Homecare crisis due to poor pay not shortage of carers, industry leader says
Homecare Direct founder Michael Harty: 'You need to be paying carers a minimum of €16 an hour.'
Payment arrangements between the HSE and homecare agencies need to be more prescriptive to ensure carers receive fair pay, a leading voice in the sector has said.
Michael Harty, founder of Homecare Direct, which links self-employed carers to families, said the crisis in homecare is due to a shortage of well-paid positions, not a shortage of carers.
Formerly involved in private homecare, he described the industry as “fairly lucrative”, and noted a new tender between the HSE and mainly private companies increases this funding.
“They probably should have said, let’s say, 'we are giving you a €5 increase and €4 of that needs to go into carers’ hands so something like that, and be prescriptive,” he said.
“So therefore you need to be paying carers a minimum of €16 an hour and that is exactly what is needed.”
He argued it should not be left up to private entities to decide how funding reaches employees.
“Companies will do what is right for their owners and shareholders, which is right and is what they are supposed to do,” he said. “There is nothing wrong with that, that’s what they are supposed to do.”
As more than 6,000 people wait for homecare, the move towards statutory homecare continues, six years since the consultation process opened.
A final evaluation report on a pilot for reformed home supports, known as InterRAI, has now been received by the HSE, a spokesman said. The pilots included Bandon, Kinsale, and Carriagaline, and concluded in August 2022.
“The findings from the evaluation will enhance the evidence base for the design of all aspects of the Statutory Home Support scheme including the implementation of InterRAI across home support services,” he said.
Pay for carers in voluntary bodies, part-funded by the HSE under the Section 39 model, are before the Workplace Relations Commission.
Meanwhile, Home and Community Care Ireland, representing 31 companies such as Bluebird and Home Instead, said “thousands of carers” are needed.
Chief executive Joseph Musgrave said: “While some progress has been made, the new homecare tender should be laying the foundations for the Statutory Home Support Scheme which has been promised by the Government to be legislated for in 2024, but instead it is a missed opportunity to make real, progressive change in the sector."
