Coronavirus (COVID-19): social care workforce payment – guidance for local authorities

Guidance on the payment process for the social care workforce £500 payment for local authorities who employ staff in adult social care services or children’s residential care, registered with the Care Inspectorate.


Eligibility

Employers should complete and submit the form for the £500 pro rata payment for eligible staff  who were employed for a continuous 4 week period between 17 March 2020 and 30 November 2020. This is the qualifying period. 

Those who work full-time or part-time, are subject to a permanent or temporary contract, or are subject to a zero hours or flexible employment contract are eligible. 

Type of staff

Definition of staff

Staff employed in the categories detailed below for a minimum of a continuous 4 week period between 17 March and 30 November 2020 will be eligible for the payment. Those who were shielding, on sick leave, and on maternity, paternity or adoption leave should be treated as though they have been employed for a continuous 4 week period and so are eligible. Those who have since left or retired who worked at least a 4 week continuous period are also eligible. For those employers who wish to claim on the behalf of an eligible employee who has since died, we would invite you to claim in the same manner as outlined in the guidance. Payment can then be made to a personal representative or the executor the employee’s estate.

Those who are eligible are those employed to work:

  • by a local authority in an adult care home registered with the Care Inspectorate (including ancillary, catering, office, cleaning and transportation staff)
  • by a local authority in a housing support service registered with the Care Inspectorate (including ancillary, catering, office, cleaning and transportation staff)
  • by a local authority in a care at home for adults or adult day care service registered with the Care Inspectorate (including ancillary, catering, office, cleaning and transportation staff)
  • by a local authority in a registered residential child care setting registered with the Care Inspectorate (including ancillary, catering, office, cleaning and transportation staff)
  • by a local authority as an Allied Health Professional supporting the delivery of frontline social care support
  • by a local authority within a Health and Social Care Partnership structure providing or supporting the delivery of frontline social work or social care. For example, those working in health and safety, finance, HR, supervisory, managerial, or other administration roles
  • by a local authority and were redeployed in to any of the eligible roles as set out in the guidance during the qualifying period
  • as a registered social worker, social work assistant or social work paraprofessional, including children and family social workers and criminal justice social workers
  • supporting the delivery of frontline social care as defined in the above bullet points, where these support functions are not delegated to the Integration Authority. For example, those working in health and safety, finance, HR, supervisory, managerial, or other administration roles where the majority of their work is in support of social care. Where a centralised team supports the frontline delivery of social work or social care along with support to the rest of the council its members will be eligible where they are part of an organised grouping of employees which has as its principal purpose the carrying out of activities in support of social care.

Agency workers, self-employed or unpaid carers are not eligible. A member of staff who has been summarily dismissed is not eligible (see the section on Leavers). Staff on career breaks are not eligible.

Local authorities should include eligible staff who are employed within an ALEO in their return to us and process payments to these staff where they are responsible for administering the payroll.

Full-time Equivalent (FTE) calculations

The payment is capped at £500 and will not exceed this amount, in total, in situations where staff do hours beyond full time or have multiple contracts.

For eligible staff, the payment will be based on average hours over the qualifying period between 17 March and 30 November 2020. 

Full-time staff definition

Any member of staff who worked full time hours (as defined for your organisation) or 37.5 hours or more per week should be counted as 1 FTE.

Part-time staff definition

The calculation for part-time staff is based on a calculation of the pro rata determined by average hours worked over the qualifying period between 17 March and 30 November 2020 as a percentage of a full time or 37.5 hour week, as above.

Multiple employers

Employers should notify staff that it is their responsibility to make sure that, when they have more the 1 employer and work more than full time, the maximum payable will be £500. A standard form of words for staff is provided in the communication templates section

If a member of staff works more than full time they should notify one of their employers and ask for their payment to be reduced from that employer.

Example:

  • If Paul works 15 hours for employer A and 10 hours for employer B, employer A should apply for 15 hours for Paul and employer B for 10 hours
  • If Molly works 25 hours per week for employer A and 15 hours per week for employer B. This is more than full time in total. Molly should notify employer A that she works more than full time in total and ask Employer A to apply for 22.5 hours for her. Employer B should apply for 15 hours, she does not need to notify them.

Leave and sickness

Staff who were:

  • shielding
  • on sick leave
  • on maternity, paternity, adoption leave
  • furloughed

 should be treated as though they have been employed for a continuous 4 week period and so are eligible.

Leavers

It is the responsibility of staff to contact the employer if they are eligible for the payment to request this. There is a standard form of words for communication to staff in the communication templates section.

Staff who have since left or retired but who are eligible in line with the criteria set out in the eligibility section for a minimum of a continuous 4 week period between 17 March and 30 November 2020 are eligible.

The payment form will ask you to provide numbers and FTE for your leavers. A separate timetable will be put in place for making payments to eligible staff who have since left or retired. 

If a member of staff has been summarily dismissed (instant dismissal for gross misconduct) they are not eligible to receive the payment and should not be included in payment numbers submitted. If a dismissed care worker has their dismissal overturned or found to be unfair, they will be eligible to receive the payment.

The expectation is that staff who have since left, retired or received an overturned decision regarding dismissal will request re-submission to their employer. The employer will seek funds from us and that this is received in a reasonable period of time.

Contact

Email: socialcare500@gov.scot

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