Change Grow Live operations are funded directly by public money. Local authority commissioners have a strict responsibility to ensure that public funds do not subsidize poverty wages.
The current low pay model actively undermines contract delivery. Frontline poverty wages mean that public funds are subsidizing housing benefits and emergency welfare for charity staff while executive directors take home inflated salaries. Understaffing and high turnover make it incredibly difficult to meet local contract requirements. By depressing frontline wages to undercut competitors, the charity drives a race to the bottom that de-professionalises the entire social care sector.
The looming risk of industrial action threatens the continuity of essential services. This creates a severe public health risk that will impact local communities, increase crime, and place massive strain on regional NHS resources.
Publicly funded services should not be sustained by poverty pay.
Commissioners are urged to take three immediate actions to resolve this crisis. First, commissioners are encouraged to meet with local Unite representatives to fully understand the issues affecting their contracted staff. Second, commissioners are asked to write directly to the Change Grow Live Chief Executive and the Board of Trustees to demand they negotiate a fair pay deal in good faith. Third, commissioners are urged to raise this issue within local authorities and central government to demand that all future public contracts include strict requirements for fair pay and secure working conditions.