Sally Wilse Owner and Manager at Seniors Helping Seniors UK speaks to the Living Wage Foundation to help celebrate #IWD2023 (International Women’s Day)
Care is a sector which is traditionally poor paying. Care is also a sector hiring more women than men.
Sally is speaking on behalf of all Seniors Helping Seniors business owners because the company was selected to champion the Real Living Wage by the foundation.
Katherine Chapman, Director of the Living Wage Foundation, said: “Millions of women in the UK – often cleaners, catering staff and care workers – are more likely to be trapped in low-paying, insecure and precarious jobs. This year’s International Women’s Day 2023 is focused on equity – true equity needs to start with a real Living Wage.”
Sally Wilse, Owner and Manager at Seniors Helping Seniors UK , said: “There are 12,000 Living Wage employers in the UK but Care is an industry with typically low pay. Care also has a high percentage female workforce. It’s important to us to lead the way in Care and always paying in line with the real cost of living is just one of the ways we lead. We paid our carers above the Real Living Wage from day one. We depend on our amazing carers and we attribute our success to them and to living our values.”
The care work at Seniors Helping Seniors offers benefits to carers and care receivers; Sally says, “We are proud to offer suitable work for experienced people as they age. The work is reliable, rewarding, local and flexible. As champions for the Living Wage, we actively lead in industries with high levels of low pay. When the new Living Wage was announced on 17 November 2022, Seniors Helping Seniors UK voted unanimously to put wages up. Our businesses are paying above the Real Living Wage months before the April 2023 deadline.
Our values drive all our decisions. Our commitment to being equitable motivates the way we approach ageing in Britain, not just on International Women’s Day, by every day.
Our carers are outstanding individuals hired for their unique personalities and range of skills to suit today’s ageing population. Our life affirming clients demonstrate how it is to age well despite health challenges and outdated images of age.
Our carers tell us their pay means they do not have to work every waking hour to make ends meet. They can instead focus on their own wellbeing, comfortable in the knowledge they are paid properly for the work they love.
The average age of carers is 59.7 years across the group, proving care work is a lifelong career at Seniors Helping Seniors.