Rise in absent care staff sparks more spending on mental health first aiders

Care providers supporting people with learning disabilities have reported a rise in staff absenteeism for mental health reasons since the beginning of the pandemic, resulting in them spending more money on mental health first aiders.

According to the 2020 ‘Sector Pulse Check’ report commissioned by learning disabilities charity Hft, 62 per cent of care providers have reported a rise in mental health-related absence amongst their frontline staff in the last year.

This is a 10 per cent rise on average across the care sector, the report highlights.

62% of care bosses spending on mental health first aiders

The number of care bosses providing in-house mental health first aiders for their staff has also risen to 62 per cent in the last year – up from 38 per cent the year before.

In-house mental health first aiders are fellow staff members who have completed Mental Health England training. Their role includes listening and communicating non judgementally and giving support and encouragement to an individual to seek appropriate professional help.

The survey of 72 care providers has prompted calls for the government to shine a light on the coronavirus frontline workforce by investing in the care sector.

MPs were invited to attend a virtual parliamentary event today (10 March) to discuss the report and the challenges facing the care sector during the pandemic.

Hft supports more than 2,500 adults with learning disabilities across England and Wales.

Kirsty Matthews, chief executive for Hft, said: “Our Sector Pulse report shows that in a year where the social care sector has played a pivotal role on the frontline, providers have gone to great lengths to support staff, who are crucial to supporting some of the most vulnerable adults in society.

“It’s time to shine a light on the pandemic’s undervalued workforce and publicly recognise their efforts. It is vital the government provides a cash injection specifically to ensure frontline social care staff have the mental health support they deserve, and that it is not at the expense of an already beleaguered sector.”

Care providers take 'drastic action' to deal with 'persistent cost pressures'

The report also highlights that care providers have been forced to reduce capacity to tackle ‘persistent cost pressures’ over recent years.

Rising wage bills and a lack of fee income has led to 62 per cent of care providers admitting they have already had to close parts of their organisation or hand back marginal contracts to the local authority in 2020 – this is up from 45 per cent in the previous report.

Around a third (29 per cent) of providers have made redundancies and one in ten have said they have had to offer care to fewer individuals. Some 47 per cent said they are likely to make staff redundancies because of covid cost pressures.

One care boss said: “We would like to be in a position to support staff with higher salaries for the valuable and committed work that is undertaken, however the low hourly rates that local authorities fund prevent this”.

HFt’s chief executive added: “While the Covid-19 pandemic has seen some additional funding enter the sector, it falls far short of solving an enduring and underlying financial challenge.

“The precarious financial situation is a culmination of years of financial pressures, which have forced providers to take drastic action in order to remain sustainable."

Dr Rhidian Hughes, chief executive of the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group, said: “This year’s Hft Sector Pulse Report highlights the extent to which the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the challenges already faced by an over-stretched and underfunded social care sector.

"High quality support services for disabled people can be transformative and this report, as we collectively look to recover from a truly challenging year, clearly exposes how the government and it agencies must do away with short-term fixes and instead invest in sustainable, long-term reform.”

The charity’s report recommends:

- Mandatory training received by social care staff (as set by Skills for Care) is updated to include mental health and resilience training to support their own wellbeing.

- The government fund mental health support for the social care sector, to ensure all staff are able to access support on a par with the NHS workforce and regardless of individual organisational capacity.

The funding be sufficient to provide for:

1) The entire social care workforce to receive mental health and resilience training to support their own wellbeing.

2) Mental health first aid training for one in ten members of the workforce.

3) Backfill payments to cover for staff while they are receiving training.

To read the full report click here