Morris Care calls for wage equality for young people in the industry
Morris Care, is calling for wage equality for all 18 – 22-year-olds working in the industry.
Lucy Holl, Chief Executive of the Shropshire-based 418 bed nursing home group said: “We believe that young carers deserve to earn the same living wage as their older counterparts and have already increased our rates accordingly.
“It is vital that we attract and motivate bright, committed young people to enter the industry and ensuring a positive starting salary is just one way of helping champion the talent of the future.”
Lucy is passionate about supporting the hard-working teams caring in the six Morris Care nursing homes across Shropshire and into Cheshire.
“I am deeply proud of the close knit and highly committed teams here and I am delighted to have raised rates in recognition of the amazing work they undertake day in day out.
“We believe that mentoring and training are vital to help fulfil potential and we love to celebrate outstanding performance and attitude with our Love2 Care support programme. I am also, however, a great believer in bringing in the new heroes of tomorrow and encouraging apprenticeships, so young people can experience the challenges and rewards of caring.
“We have recently partnered with Paragon to help run a proactive apprenticeship programme across all our homes.”
The company recently launched another scheme which it hopes will be a trailblazer for the future: a pilot BSc Nursing Apprenticeship Programme in association with Birmingham City University, funded through the Company’s Apprenticeship Levy pot. A ‘Night Owl’ Care Assistant at The Morris Care Centre in Wellington surprised and inspired the CEO by completing her Access to Nursing Diploma and being accepted at university for a 4-year BSC Nursing Apprenticeship degree.
“This news led us to explore how we might be able to support such a self-starting commitment to the goal of a Nursing qualification. We realised it is possible to study Nursing through the apprenticeship route and we set in motion our bid to become an approved Nursing BSc partner. This route involves significant input from clinical and management roles in the host Home, however, if we can make it work, our goal over time is to be able to support a number of ambitious loyal Morris Care employees to study for a nursing qualification.”
