Liberal Democrat Cllr Sally Symington has raised concerns that care workers in the county may not be receiving the council funding that's designed to boost their wages.

In recent years – in response to recruitment pressures in the care sector – the county council has increased funding available to care providers, enabling providers in Hertfordshire to boost care workers wages.

In this year's budget (2023/24) £31m was allocated by the council specifically "to ensure adult care providers can continue to support residents, including an uplift to care worker pay".

And councillors were told that this would take the minimum pay funded to £12.31 an hour – increasing home care rates to £15.98.

But at a meeting of the county council on Tuesday (December 10) Cllr Sally Symington raised concerns that – in some cases – the council's additional funding was not being passed on to staff.

She suggested that during a recent public webinar it had emerged that care workers were receiving 'close' to the real living wage.

At the time of the webinar the real living wage was £12.00 an hour – although it has since risen to £12.60.

And she asked executive member for adult care, health and wellbeing, Cllr Tony Kingsbury, to write to all care providers to clarify whether the funds were being passed on.

Referring to a public webinar, she said: "It was disclosed that staff pay of the care providers is 'close' to the real living wage at £12 per hour.

"The council invested £31m in the last IP [budget] for this year in care provider fee uplift – with a minimum of £12.31 – and for home care rates of nearly £16."

And she later continued: "Obviously we absolutely support that the council has put these rates up.

"But I am very concerned to have heard in a public forum that they are not being passed on to the staff  in one specific organisation."

In response executive member for adult care, health and care Cllr Tony Kingsbury said it had always been the council's intention that all of the funds would be passed on to the people working for care providers.

But he said the council was not in direct control of that – and that those care providers also supplied support to 'self-funders'.

However he said they had written into contracts, where they could, in order to make it a real ambition that they do meet the living wage.

"We have put lots of money in over the last few years in terms of pay, in terms of support, to care providers to pay their staff," he said.

"And we have always intended that that money goes across to them."

In a written answer to a similar question – published to coincide with the meeting of the full council – Cllr Kingsbury also stressed the council's intention that the additional funding be passed on to staff.

He said the 2024/5 settlement on fees for care commissioned by the county council signalled the council's expectation that pay for care workers should exceed the national living wage.

And he said that by setting expectations for the commissioned care purchased by the council, it was anticipated tat this would have a knock-on effect for the wider care workforce.

But he said that given that care providers are independent businesses, information on how providers distribute that to employees is not "something that the council is able to readily isolate and quantify".

He also acknowledged that pay levels may need to reflect wage progression and that with the businesses serving the 'self funder' market too pay rates may reflect different income streams.

He said compliance on minimum pay rates was checked during contract compliance meetings.

And he suggested the market would work in such a way that carers would move to those providers wo were paying better wages, "incentivising providers to pass on any fee uplift to carers through increased wages.

Following the meeting Cllr Symington said that if the county council was providing for care staff in Hertfordshire to be paid a premium then it should be passed on to the people delivering the care.

And she said the Liberal Democrats were now keen to ensure that it was not being retained by providers or used to subsidise care in other areas.