People in Wales think carers should either have a pay rise or cheaper petrol - or both. WalesOnline readers have had their say after a care boss said she had got an electric scooter to help staff who can't afford the fuel to drive their own cars to clients' homes. Emma Murray's concerns were voiced the day after petrol prices in Wales broke the £2-a-litre barrier amid warnings prices are going to keep increasing. Here are the cheapest petrol prices we found at supermarkets in Wales this week.
The average cost of filling a typical family car with petrol has now exceeded £100 for the first time. Data firm Experian Catalist said a litre of petrol cost an average of 180.7p on Tuesday. That was an increase of 2.2p compared with the previous day. This was the largest daily jump in 17 years, according to the RAC. Read the reasons why prices are so high here.
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Care boss Emma, who runs Vale Senior Care in Denbigh, told BBC Radio Wales that she had had some staff coming in crying saying they couldn't afford the fuel in the car. Over 500 WalesOnline readers shared their opinion on the matter and their views were almost unanimous. To get the latest WalesOnline newsletters emailed to you directly for free, click here.
Patrick Kenny said: "Well give them a pay rise!!!! Care homes make an absolute fortune so should fund their own business overheads." Sarah Louise said: "I'm a carer in the community and it's hard in putting in over £120 a month and probably getting £13 back. Social care is crumbling and will carry on to."
Nicola Pearson said: "I quite agree, these poor individuals get paid the lowest wages for doing a very challenging job. Give them a decent wage as the prices charged in these homes are exorbitant. At present we pay £1,280 per week and they are constantly advertising for more staff. Something very wrong somewhere with our so called caring industry. They should be caring for the staff that work there and paying them a fair and decent wage."
Tina Smart said: "Even back in 2018 when petrol was a reasonable price, it was a struggle being a carer. You're basically paying to work because the mileage allowance is pennies for the miles you actually do. Social care is under-staffed already, this is going to mean people leaving their jobs."
Mary Scott said: "Give care workers vouchers to get their petrol. They did a fantastic job during the pandemic and carers who travel from home to home must now be spending a large part of their low pay on petrol come on the powers that be help these hard working carers now before you lose them all."
Leeann Summers said: "My son is a carer and needs his car to get to work as he works in different nursing and residential homes. It's costing him a fortune now and looks like the government will leave it til last minute before they do anything about it. Like with electricity and gas, they left it til the last minute to help with a windfall tax that they said they would never do. Please do something about the rising cost of petrol etc."
Anne Michael said: "If something is not done soon there will be no care staff available it's just too expensive to fuel your car. Carers are leaving jobs right, left and centre and working in supermarkets locally — things are going to get far worse."
Karen Stanton said: "The companies employing them make it hard to make money when travelling between appointments at own cost. Perhaps these profit-making companies need to have a think?" Daniel Evans said: "The amount of money these care homes make, they need to up the wage!"
Continue the debate by having your say in the comments below.
