SOCIAL care workers who were “abandoned” following the Covid-19 pandemic will meet with SNP ministers today to demand “nothing but fairness.”

The workers will stage a rally with their union, GMB Scotland, outside the Scottish Parliament, before a delegation takes their concerns about deteriorating conditions in the sector to a meeting with SNP Health Secretary Neil Gray and Social Care Minister Maree Todd.

Despite the workers being on the front line during the pandemic, a GMB Scotland survey found that 62 per cent believed working conditions had deteriorated since then, 82 per cent said staffing levels were no better and 52 per cent had seen no improvement in safety procedures.

Eighty-six per cent reported no improvement in wages and 87 per cent argued that owners were putting profit before fair pay and decent conditions.

The Scottish government made a £38 million cut to the social care budget last year, while there has been growing frustration at a lack of progress on a promised £15-an-hour minimum wage for the sector.

GMB Scotland secretary Louise Gilmour said: “The staff and residents in private care homes were abandoned during the pandemic, when many were not given the proper equipment or guidance to protect themselves or their families.

“Their commitment and lifesaving care saved countless lives, despite [them] being exposed to grave but unnecessary risk, and they were promised that, after Covid, things would change.

“Nothing has changed and, if anything, conditions are even worse now than then.

“It cannot go on. MSPs in the Scottish Parliament will hear our members outside and everyone must listen and then act to deliver decent wages, sick pay and security for workers asking for nothing but fairness.”

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “We value the vital role social care workers play in delivering high-quality care to the people of Scotland.”