ANGRY members of staff at Collins House, Thurrock Council's residential care home in Corringham, have slammed the authority for publishing what it claims is false information about planned cuts to their pay.

Collins House has become a focal point in the ongoing dispute between the council and a significant number of staff over plans to change terms and conditions.

One member of the team there contacted Thurrock Nub News to give an emotional account of the impact of the planned cuts.

That account was refuted by Thurrock Council in a response, which we recently published which said that just five out of 88 members of staff at Collins House would be affected.

The GMB union, which represents many of those staff members has now supplied Thurrock Nub News with details of pay - and the cuts - and it accuses the council of a blatant lie.

We have removed the names, but the information supplied by the union based on official letters sent by the council to staff shows that at least 13 members of staff will be worse off if the changes are imposed - with the degree of cuts ranging from a minimum of £800 a year, to a maximum of one staff member losing £7,528.19 year.

The breakdown, including overtime and other allowances is as follows:

Manager £248.47 per month. £2,981.64 per year - bank holiday losses not included.

Housekeeper total loss per year £938.39

Care assistant £1,080 loss per year

Care Assistant £936 per year loss

Night Care Assistant £700.43 calculated yearly loss.

Care Assistant £1,921.29 loss per year

Duty Manager £2,155.69 per year

Night Care Assistant £2,466.15 loss per year

Day support worker £800 loss per year

Night Care Assistant £2,200 loss per year

Duty Manager £2,500 per year loss

Care Assistant total loss per year £828

Duty Manager, with overtime £7,528.19

Similar cuts will happen at other care homes across the borough says the GMB union, which is planning the first of a number of public demonstrations outside the Civic Offices in Grays on Friday, 30 April.

Regional GMB organiser Daren Parmenter says: "Our dedicated members face huge cuts to their shift pay, overtime and bank holiday working payments. These payment rates are in recognition of the unsociable hours they must work to ensure that round the clock care is provided, seven days a week.

"What is also disappointing is that our members have received no acknowledgement for the level of courage and dedication they have provided throughout these difficult times.

Instead, their employer Thurrock Council has sent a letter informing these essential workers that they will be cutting their pay.

"In June 2020 the Council approved expenditure of £10 million on the plush redevelopment of its council offices in Grays, a clear indication that prioritising essential services and valuing its employees who provide these services isn't as important as a plush new workplace for managers.

"The morale of our members throughout the past year of the Covid pandemic has been extremely low with 80 per cent of our members working in Collins House care home and in the wider community caring for the residents of Thurrock having caught Covid.

"Our members have been walking into residents' rooms, distressed to find the residents they have been caring for have sadly passed away, the same residents that our members regarded as, and treated as, their extended family.

"These carers, our members, provided more than the requirements of their job description. They provided professional care but also the kind of true care and comfort we would all hope to receive in our later years.

"The mental and physical toll has been unimaginable for our members and these proposals from the council are received as a kick in the teeth."