The officers have transferred from 40 different previous employers and have been kept on their old salaries. Those who have transferred from health boards and formerly regulated residential care homes and care of adults tend to be on higher pay than former local authority workers who dealt with care for the under-eights. Ms McGugan said she understood there was a difference of around 6,000, but Nursery World has learned that it could be as high as Pounds 11,000.
Ms McGugan said, 'There was an expectation that these anomalies would be rectified when everybody transferred, but people seem to have transferred on their existing salaries. They have exactly the same job but are on very different salary scales. There has been some dissatisfaction over people being paid less than their colleagues. This is not the right ethos for the Commission to be established on or continue with.
'There is also the issue of the administrative workers. I under-stand their salaries vary by up to 2,700 a year. The unions say there is nothing more they can do. Why can't they be a bit more pro-active? If they can't, I'm certainly prepared to have a go.'
Ms McGugan wrote to Jacquie Roberts, the chief executive of the Care Commission, who responded last week with a letter saying the Commission had 'already made a significant step forward in addressing the most serious anomalies by establishing a starting salary of 19,484 for Care Commission Officers and 9,680 for admin support staff'.
Ms Roberts added, 'We are now undertaking a more detailed exercise to get a full measure of anomalies across the country. This will take time and it will be important not to create further anomalies and ineq-uities. Please be reassured that we are addressing the issues as a matter of priority.cies in Scote
