Carers to receive £500 thank you bonus next month
SOCIAL care workers in Scotland will next month receive their £500 “thank you” for battling through the pandemic.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman confirmed the one-off, pro-rata payment which most NHS staff received in February.
More than 400,000 eligible social care staff are expected to qualify, having worked in the sector for a continuous four-week period between March 17 and November 30 last year.
Freeman said: “We are hugely grateful for the hard work of social care workers across Scotland as they have risen to the challenge of responding to the pandemic.
“Delivering vital care to individuals under incredibly difficult circumstances has demonstrated the outstanding commitment, skill, dedication and compassion of our care-givers.
“This payment recognises the resilience of all of those who have been, and continue to, provide exceptional care on the front line of this crisis.”
The Scottish Government has said it is working “at pace” to ensure the payment is made to councilemployed social care staff from next month. A system will be in place for personal assistants, who are often directly employed by the person they support, by the end of this month.
Freeman also revealed at the daily briefing yesterday that hospital visiting will resume from April 26. One visitor will be allowed per patient.
She said: “April 26 will not be a return to normal visiting but it is I think an important step towards normality and will, I hope, be welcomed by health staff, by patients and by their loved ones.”
Scotland has recorded eight deaths from Covid and 655 positive tests in the past 24 hours.
This brings to 7554 the death toll of people who first tested positive for the virus in the previous 28 days.
The breakdown of new positive tests is 162 in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area, 138 in Lothian and 134 in Lanarkshire.
There are 397 people in hospital with the virus, down eight in 24 hours, and 35 patients in intensive care, down three.
As of yesterday morning 2,066,460 people in Scotland have received their first dose and a 201,435 people have had a second dose.