Matthew Dix

“I started as a support worker 12 years ago getting paid minimum wage and a barely making enough to live off let alone thrive off, I stuck with it though as I have a real passion for supporting people and seeing them excel in their lives. I have been in the past been forced to work over 200 hours a month just to earn enough to pay rent/bills and buy food and other essentials.

The issue I have is both that we are underpaid but also undervalued, to class us a unskilled worker is highly inappropriate, I have been a support worker, counsellor, sports coach, handy person and much more.

On the Underpaid point, when providers can only pay minimum wage because those funding can only pay just above minimum wage the system will not work. If you keep cutting the hand that feeds then the hand that takes cannot, and then the services they provide are affected.

In short cutting services put more pressure on the wider healthcare community, so paying fair for care workers will help the NHS and in turn take pressure of those in charge of the country.”