In a £1.5 million commitment, Jewish Care is raising the salaries of its lowest paid staff to bring them in line with the current London Living Wage.

Care staff, housekeepers, cleaners and catering assistants are among more than 500 employees who will benefit from the move, which will see hourly rates for the lowest earners increased from £9.47 to £10.85.

It puts Jewish Care among just ten per cent of social care providers in the capital paying the London Living Wage.

“At the start of the pandemic, we were out there clapping for our carers. We thought it was time to translate that into a pay that is fair,” explained the charity’s communications director, Ellisa Estrin.

“For us, these are the people who are looking after our grandparents; they are looking after our parents; they are looking after our community and one day they will be looking after us too.

“During the pandemic, we had managers who moved into our homes because they wanted to be close to clients and reduce the chance of bringing Covid in.

“We had care staff getting two busses a day to work. They were scared. But they still came in and looked after our clients.”

She pointed out that “the cost of living is so high at the moment. Universal Credit has been cut and our lowest paid staff will be affected by that.

“National Insurance is about to go up and we want to help staff to at least be able to meet their everyday needs.”

The move also made “good business sense” in the longer term.

“By paying a better and fairer wage, we are more likely to retain the most talented people in our organisation, who have been working under increased pressure since the start of the pandemic.”

It would also help recruitment efforts in an “extremely challenging” market, where there were insufficient people to meet the staffing needs of care providers.

Ms Estrin acknowledged that there was a stigma attached to care work because of both pay and progression prospects.

“We are looking to recruit over 50 roles at the moment which are being back-filled by existing staff doing overtime.

“The biggest challenge has been when it comes to opening our community centres. We would like to increase the number of days we are opening but we have not been able to in some cases because of not having enough hospitality staff.

“It is that side of the business that has been most affected.”

Jewish Care would be relying on “the kindness and the generosity of the community” to meet the additional financial burden.

Key donors briefed on the decision had been “incredibly supportive of our plans”.

The charity is facing another imminent staffing issue.

From November 11, it will be mandatory for those working in a Care Quality Commission-registered care home in England to be fully vaccinated, unless they have a medical exemption.

Jewish Care expects to lose 30 employees because of the vaccination requirement.

“Most of our staff have had the vaccine but it is their choice not to have it,” Ms Estrin said.

“Over 650 staff in our homes have had it, which has been great.”