Lancashire social care staff claim 'exploitation' as council 'disappointed' strike set to enter second year
A war of words has broken out between Lancashire County Council and a union whose members have been taking strike action for more than a year.
Social care support staff at the authority – belonging to the UNISON union – have walked out for a total of 69 days since July 2024.
The dispute is over what they say are exploitative working practices, which mean they are being expected to take on the responsibility of social care workers themselves – but on lower pay.
A ballot has been launched to ask members whether they want to continue the walkouts after talks between the two sides – at the conciliation service ACAS – broke down in June.
UNISON representatives have since accused the local authority of “refusing to negotiate seriously on finding an end to the dispute”.
However, the county council says it is “disappointed” by the move against the backdrop of its attempts to work “constructively” with staff to find a solution – and it blamed the union for collapsing the talks by walking away.
UNISON claims the authority’s social care support officers – who are employed to undertake adult social care assessments and arrange and review packages of care – are regularly having to undertake increasingly complex casework, including supporting survivors of domestic abuse, victims of sexual exploitation and people suffering from prolonged self-neglect.
It says staff want clear boundaries between pay grades to ensure they are paid appropriately for the duties they carry out.
UNISON North West regional organiser James Rupa says Lancashire County Council is “exploiting” its support staff by “taking advantage of their expertise and good nature” of “to get vital social work services on the cheap”.
“The workers are a vital lifeline for many of Lancashire’s most vulnerable people. Without their visits and assessments, signs of worsening health would go unnoticed and care plans collapse.
“Staff have had enough. They don’t want to take any more strike action, they just want to be paid fairly for the work they do – and they want the council to start talking seriously about how to end this long-running dispute,” Mr. Rupa added.
A spokesperson for the county council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We deeply value our staff and are listening to their concerns.
“We recently held a positive workshop with our adult social care support officers and gathered some valuable feedback, which we are now reviewing.
“We are disappointed UNISON has walked away from ACAS conversations and chosen to ballot our workforce as we are constructively working with them to find a way forward.
“We will continue to work with our staff and the trade union to reach a positive resolution to the ongoing dispute.”
UNISON members have so far taken seven blocks of action which saw them walk out initially for days – and more recently, weeks – at a time.