I started working for a private care home in England in April 2017. My starting wage was a meagre £7.60 an hour (9 USD), which I hope we can all agree is not a lot of money. This did increase to £8 (9.51) ph after my 3 month probationary period.
At this time, management told me that after I had been working for a year, my hourly pay would increase to a WHOPPING £8.10 (9.63)!
Well…. The year came and went. I mentioned monthly to them that I was yet to receive my promised pay increase. They told me that they were working to rectify the situation. Stupidly, I accepted this and continued to wait.
After about a year and a half of me working there, they asked me to train a new member of staff. During this time, I mentioned to another member of staff about how I still hadn't received my pay rise. The new member I was training then says to me, “I'm sorry if this ain't any of my business, but how much are you supposed to be earning here after a year?” And I said to her, it's supposed to be £8.10 but I'm currently still on £8ph. She looked at me with an extremely confused expression and informed me that her starting wage was £8.30 ph (9.87).
Yes, I was TRAINING SOMEONE EARNING MORE THAN ME.
I immediately brought this up to management. Within days, they had increased my hourly pay to £8.30. They refused to pay me back pay.
After 3 months, the person I had been training got a pay increase. I did not. They again, were earning more than me. I worked there until the end of 2020 and never received another pay increase. I know I was an idiot for not doing more about it. At this point, I fully believe they treated me differently and paid me unfairly because I worked part time and was unable to cover many extra shifts.
This is a company that charges up to £7000 (8325) per WEEK for some residents who receive higher levels of care. Even senior carers were only paid £10ph (11.90). It's corrupt, and from what I hear hasn't gotten any better since the pandemic.
The care industry is severely underpaid for the work that is done. We clean up every bodily fluid imaginable, hold your relatives hands while they die, work 15 hours shifts and often go without a break, but cashiers get paid more. Not trying to undermine the work of cashiers, I just think it would be nice if carers were paid fairly.
Thanks for reading!