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Penrose Care – Living Wage Champion!

Belsize Village, London, UK: Last night, Penrose Care was announced as a winner of the Living Wage Champion Awards 2018 award for Industry Leadership.

The 2018 Living Wage Champion Awards celebrate individuals and organisations that have made an outstanding contribution to the Living Wage movement, and are proudly sponsored by Aviva, KPMG and the City of London Corporation.

In 2012 Penrose Care became one of the first four Living Wage accredited care homes. In an industry that has often struggled with low pay, Penrose Care used the real Living Wage as the foundation on which to roll out further outstanding labour standards; including guaranteed weekly hours, payment for travel time, private medical insurance and an occupational sick-pay scheme. These standards have set Penrose apart from its peers, and highlighted the possibility of decent pay and conditions within the care sector.

One of three winners of the Industry Leadership Award, including The Haven Wolverhampton and Unlimited Potential, Penrose Care were commended for their promotion of the Living Wage. Other shortlisted organisations included Curzon Cinemas and Creature.

Robert Stephenson-Padron, managing director of Penrose Care, said:

“Since our founding, Penrose Care has been the UK’s pioneer of the ethical provision of home care. The real Living Wage has been the cornerstone of our ethical framework as it is one of the most credible signs to all our stakeholders that Penrose Care is a genuinely caring organisation that respects the dignity of the human person – client, worker, or any other. We are greatly humbled in receiving the Industry Leadership Award from the Living Wage Foundation. The Living Wage Champion Award will further Penrose Care’s confidence in leading a caring organisation which engenders trust and honesty, two of the qualities needed to provide excellent care consistently.”

2018-06-08 (Penrose Care) Receiving Living Wage Champion Award

Robert Stephenson-Padron accepts the 2018 Living Wage Champion Industry Leadership Award on Penrose Care’s behalf. Looking on, Stuart Wright, Chair of the Living Wage Foundation. Alicia Lerche, support worker; and Olga García Gómez, deputy care manager at Penrose Care, and event host.

Olga García Gómez, who started at Penrose Care in 2014 as a support worker and now is a deputy manager, said:

“I am grateful to be part of Penrose Care, a company that takes great care of their staff and clients. The company feels more like a family and whereby you always feel supported due to a variety of ethical working conditions including the London Living Wage, and having available a manager 24/7. In addition to all this, you can develop your professional career at Penrose Care as I have. For someone coming from abroad, all these factors are very important in a job.”

Alicia Lerche, home care support worker; Olga García Gómez, deputy manager; and Robert Stephenson-Padron, managing director of Penrose Care after receiving the 2018 Living Wage Champion award.

Tess Lanning, Director of the Living Wage Foundation, said:

“Congratulations to Penrose Care on becoming a Living Wage Champion award winner. Employers like Penrose Care are leading the way in placing dignity and respect at the heart of their organisation. Over 4,200 employers have now signed up to the movement, and their leadership is making a profound difference to the lives of families and communities across the UK. Penrose Care’s work in celebrating and championing the Living Wage has been vital to its success.”

The Living Wage is an hourly pay rate set independently, updated annually, and calculated according to the basic cost of living. Employers choose to pay the Living Wage on a voluntary basis.

The awards were judged by an independent panel of business and community leaders.

2018-06-08 (Penrose Care) Neil Jameson Bob Padron Alicia Lerche Olga Garcia Kaneez Shaid

Left to right: Neil Jameson CBE, founder and executive director of Citizens UK; Robert Stephenson-Padron, Penrose Care managing director; Alicia Lerche, home care support worker of Penrose Care; Olga García Gómez, deputy manager of Penrose Care; and Dr Kaneez Shaid MBE, Chair of Trustees of Citizens UK at the Living Wage Champion Awards 2018 at Guildhall, London.

Media Contact

John Hood – Media Manager: John.Hood@LivingWage.org.uk

Mobile: 07507 173649 Landline 0208 017 2936

About the real Living Wage

The real Living Wage is the only rate calculated according to what people need to make ends meet. It provides a voluntary benchmark for employers that choose to take a stand by ensuring their staff earn a wage that meets the costs and pressures they face in their everyday lives.

The UK Living Wage is currently £8.75 per hour. There is a separate London Living Wage rate of £10.20 per hour to reflect the higher costs of transport, childcare and housing in the capital. These figures are calculated annually by the Resolution Foundation and overseen by the Living Wage Commission, based on the best available evidence on living standards in London and the UK.

The Living Wage Foundation is the organisation at the heart of the movement of businesses, organisations and individuals who campaign for the simple idea that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. We recognise and celebrate the leadership shown by responsible employers who voluntarily choose to go further and pay a real Living Wage based on the cost of living, not just the government minimum. There are currently over 4,200 accredited employers.

What’s the difference between the real Living Wage and the Government’s national living wage?

In April 2016 the government introduced a higher minimum wage rate for all staff over 25 years of age inspired by the Living Wage campaign – even calling it the ‘national living wage’.

However, the government’s ‘national living wage’ is not calculated according to what employees and their families need to live. Instead, it is based on a target to reach 60% of median earnings by 2020. Under current forecasts this means a rise to less than £9 per hour by 2020. For under 25s, the minimum wage rates also take into account affordability for employers.

The real Living Wage rates are higher because they are independently-calculated based on what people need to get by. That’s why the Living Wage Foundation encourages all employers that can afford to do so to ensure their employees earn a wage that meets the costs of living, not just the government minimum.

The judges for the 2018 Living Wage Champion Awards were:

  • Dr Kaneez Shaid MBE, Campaigner and Chair of the Citizens UK Board of Trustees
  • Rosie Gillham, Living Wage employee and campaigner
  • Yvonne Roberts, freelance journalist, writer and broadcaster, The Observer
  • Jane Gratton, Head of Business Environment and Skills Policy at British Chambers of Commerce
  • Matt Sparkes, Head of Corporate Responsibility, Linklaters LLP
  • Tess Lanning, Director of the Living Wage Foundation

About Penrose Care

Penrose Care is an ethical provider of home care services London, United Kingdom to adults with disabilities and elderly persons, including those with dementia.  The company operates upon a fundamental belief that to promote a caring workforce, the organisation itself must be caring. As the pioneer of ethics in home care in the UK, Penrose Care in 2012 became one of the first four providers in the country to become an Accredited Living Wage Employer and in 2013 the first independent sector provider to be compliant with Citizens UK’s landmark Social Care Charter. Penrose Care was named the Living Wage Champion for the London region in 2016 by the Living Wage Foundation.

Penrose Care’s ethical approach promotes higher quality social care workers and low staff turnover which in turn results in excellent care. Penrose Care is headquartered in Belsize Village, north London and was founded by Robert Stephenson-Padron, a healthcare research analyst, and Dr. Matthew Knight, a hospital physician.

2018-06-08 (Penrose Care) Living Wage Champion Family Photo

2018 Living Wage Champions Family Photo.

Penrose Care Managing Director Robert Stephenson-Padron and senior care worker Nikoletta Makouli following Penrose Care being named the Most Outstanding Home Care Provider in the World.
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International recognition for Penrose Care’s ethical labour practices

Belsize Village, London, UK: Penrose Care was honoured Thursday night, November 9, 2017 to receive international recognition for its pioneering work in integrating ethical labour practices into home care at the 2017 Global Over 50s Housing Awards. Penrose Care was recognised as the “The Most Outstanding Homecare Provider in the World.”

Penrose Care Managing Director Robert Stephenson-Padron and senior care worker Nikoletta Makouli following Penrose Care being named the Most Outstanding Home Care Provider in the World.

Penrose Care Managing Director Robert Stephenson-Padron and senior care worker Nikoletta Makouli following Penrose Care being named the Most Outstanding Home Care Provider in the World.

Social care labour practices tend to be poor both in the UK and abroad and Penrose Care has over the years received research delegations from Canada and Japan to learn about Penrose Care’s ethical labour practices, how Penrose Care makes them possible financially, and how it leads to better social care outcomes. Penrose Care has been involved in various labour and social care reports and studies including from the University of Strathclyde (Scotland), Itami City Council (Japan), the Equality & Human Rights Commission (UK) and most recently, The New Policy Institute.

Penrose Care’s ethical workplace practices include paying the London Living Wage, a voluntary wage rate set by the Mayor of London once a year which is meant to be the lowest a person can be paid to still live a decently quality of life in London (currently £10.20/hour vs the mandatory National Living Wage of £7.50/hour); an Occupational Sickpay Scheme that allows workers to receive full pay for up to 10 days a year so workers do not feel compelled to work go to work when sick – supporting public health; free taxis home for workers going home late at night to help ensure their safety and give them that extra boost of relaxation; and a variety of other labour initiatives.

Long-time international labour specialist, Jerald Zellhoefer, a former American social worker and European Representative of the AFL-CIO based in Paris, France and member of the International Labour Organisation from 1991-2010 noted upon learning of Penrose Care’s award, “Penrose Care is a strong supporter of Living Wage which in the social care sector in a country with an aging population is especially important.  Dignity for patients and care givers can never be secondary issues.”

Following receiving the award, Penrose Care managing director said, “The Penrose Care team is once again honoured and humbled to be recognised for our especially caring ethos, which covers both our staff and the vulnerable persons we support to live independently in their homes.”

Mr. Stephenson-Padron continued: “Penrose Care’s core innovation is an adherence to a timeless truth – that the dignity of man and woman is superior to all other aims. With these guiding values, we have been able to attract and keep special individuals with a vocation to care. And by allowing them to pursue that vocation, we have been able to help the elderly and disabled persons we support live more fulfilling lives.”

Nikoletta Makouli, a senior care worker at Penrose Care who attended the awards ceremony in London at the Courthouse Hotel, said following the award: “We are not only a team because we work together, we are a team because we respect, trust and care about each other. Proud to be part of this company Penrose Care.”

Various other countries were represented at the awards ceremony including organisations from Australia, Canada, India, Italy, Mexico, Thailand and the USA.

With Penrose Care having a multi-year relationship with healthcare researchers from Japan, Penrose Care’s team was especially pleased to meet at the Global Awards ceremony Dr. Hanatsu Nagano who has invented a shoe insole that reduces trips and falls in the elderly.

With Penrose Care having a multi-year relationship with healthcare researchers from Japan, Penrose Care’s team was especially pleased to meet at the Global Awards ceremony Dr. Hanatsu Nagano who has invented a shoe insole that reduces trips and falls in the elderly.

ENDS

Media Contact

Penrose Care

Robert Stephenson-Padron

robert.padron@penrosecare.co.uk

0207 435 2644

About Penrose Care

Penrose Care is an ethical provider of home care services London, United Kingdom to adults with disabilities and elderly persons, including those with dementia.  The company operates upon a fundamental belief that to promote a caring workforce, the organisation itself must be caring. As the pioneer of ethics in home care in the UK, Penrose Care in 2012 became one of the first four providers in the country to become an Accredited Living Wage Employer and in 2013 the first independent sector provider to be compliant with Citizens UK’s landmark Social Care Charter. Penrose Care was named the Living Wage Champion for the London region in 2016 by the Living Wage Foundation.

Penrose Care’s ethical approach promotes higher quality social care workers and low staff turnover which in turn results in excellent care. Penrose Care is headquartered in Belsize Village, north London and was founded by Robert Stephenson-Padron, a healthcare research analyst, and Dr. Matthew Knight, a hospital physician.

About the Global Over 50s Housing Awards

The Global Over 50s Housing Awards (“Global Awards”) are now in their seventh year. They were created to celebrate and reward the best individual and company performances in Seniors Housing/Care Trends, Healthcare Innovation, IT, and Medical Tourism sectors worldwide. The Awards recognise the rapid growth of these sectors worldwide, and the capacity of individuals to influence and set new performance standards across countries, regions and the world. The Awards focus on elevated performance; the creation of new business models; contrarian thinking; recognising and embracing new trends; market leadership; inspirational performance and the elevation of customer experience.

2017-07-04 (Penrose Care) Founding of Penrose Care
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Five years on, thank you Dr. Knight

July 4, 2017 marks the birthday of the Penrose Care group of companies. And on this fifth anniversary of Penrose Care’s founding, our co-founder Robert Stephenson-Padron wrote an open thank you letter to our other co-founder, Dr. Matthew Knight.

Dear Dr. Knight,

The Fourth of July not only marks the birthday of my country of birth, the great United States of America, but also another thing very close to my heart: Penrose Ltd, the company you and I founded five years ago on July 4, 2012. Penrose Ltd is the holding company of Penrose Care Ltd, the social care organisation you and I created that is the UK’s pioneer of ethics in home care.

What was it that we did? What did we do that has attracted especially talented people who have vocations to care for the vulnerable in our otherwise “throw away” society? What did we do that has ensured that this group of special people deliver excellent care and support to the elderly and disabled day in and day out since Penrose Care commenced trading in the fall of 2013? What did we do that has caused a small home care provider in north London to attract the attention of health and social care professionals from across the globe?

This is what we did: in a West that has thrown out its roots in the unbridled pursuit of greed, we built a caring organisation that says both in words and in actions to our workers and to those we serve: you have dignity as a human being and this must be respected. This is a guiding truth that surpasses all other inclinations and endeavours. This is what we meant in our founding motto: “home care with a human touch.”

To our workers this recognition of their dignity as human beings first and foremost meant abhorring the idea that workers are a commodity that can be managed via a spreadsheet.

“Labour” is not a production input that you source as cheaply as possible and stack in a warehouse and pull out only when needed.

“Labour” is the sweat and effort of human beings, born from a mother and a father like you and I, who deserve a fair days pay for a fair days work. Penrose Care translated this by becoming one of the first Accredited Living Wage Employers in 2012 amid a social care sector known for poverty wages and sadly, continues to be known for poor working conditions generally. We however, have not and will not be pulled down into the dirty ways of our sector.

“Labour” is the precious time of human beings which must be respected. Penrose Care has translated this by guaranteeing a minimum number of working hours in its contracts the norm amid a social care sector where zero-hour contracts are standard. Although this decision specifically means we cannot grow as quickly as our peers who use people as “just-in-time inventory,” we believe our method builds a more sustainable, resilient and moral organisation. This commitment was enshrined in Citizens UK’s landmark Social Care Charter which also included rolling out an occupational sickpay scheme, something virtually non-existent in home care, to ensure workers do not feel obligated to go to work when ill. To this day, we are as far as we know the only private sector home care provider in the UK to comply with that charter of goodwill.

To our clients, the elderly and disabled, recognition of their dignity as human beings means putting them at the centre of all that we do to ensure the services we provide them are consistently outstanding. It means providing small and consistent teams to help them build trust and to respect their privacy – hence the fundamental necessity of our ethical workplace practices to attract caring people and retain them. It means sending staff who are confident and well-trained so we can help alleviate the stresses of our clients’ daily lives, not add to them. It means knowing those we serve, which is why we comprehensively assess the needs of those we serve and do not provide care visits of less than 1 and a 1/2 hours. It means we recognise the innate value of those we serve even if they are no longer “economically productive”.

As you and I said at the beginning of the Penrose story: to promote a caring workforce the organisation itself must be caring. Over the past five years, we have proven this to be true. And how could it not be true? As you and I simply, although arduously, are providing a living demonstration of the immemorial truth of our species: that every human being is precious. Because they are here, with us, in one human family. And we want to be with our workers, we want to help them live well and to grow. With our clients: we want to be with them.

The honours we have received for our good work in Penrose Care, at home and abroad, have been moving. They have been symbols of a “job well done.” And although we should be proud of our work, I know that you and I will maintain our humility. As you and I both know that we are only doing what we feel is our duty and our obligation to stand up to a culture and a system which is doing wrong, and to fight as hard as we possibly can to do what we know in our hearts to be right.

For the ultimate due, gratitude and praise goes to “The God of Love, The King of Peace,” who in a mysterious way we do not understand inspires us in our mission and in our fight.

My dear Dr. Knight, you and your lovely Spanish wife Elena have become part of my family in my home away from home, the United Kingdom. I am grateful for your friendship and for your collegiality.

We still have much work to do in the years ahead but I am confident we can do it. As Cesar Chavez, the leader of the union movement for which my grandfather belonged to back in California, used to say: “Sí se puede,” Spanish for, “It can be done.”

Thank you.

Yours always,

Bob

Robert “Bob” Stephenson-Padron is the managing director and co-founder of Penrose Care.

2017-07-04 (Penrose Care) Founding of Penrose Care

After months of planning, the firm decision to found Penrose Care happened on June 4, 2012 following a meeting Dr. Matthew Knight and Robert Stephenson-Padron had at the eminent hospital the Clinica Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain. One month later, Penrose Care was founded.

2017-07-04 (Penrose Care) Media recognition

Over the past five years, Penrose Care’s innovative ethical approach to home care has resulted in the company appearing in numerous mainline media outlet broadcasts.

2017-07-04 (Penrose Care) International recognition

Penrose Care’s approach to delivering consistently excellent care is so unique that research delegations have been sent from abroad to learn from us.

2017-07-04 (Penrose Care) Leadership recognition

Since Penrose Care’s founding, our managing director Robert Stephenson-Padron has twice been named the Most Outstanding Leader in the UK Care Sector.

2016-10-31-penrose-care-living-wage-champion-05-olga-and-bob

In 2016, Penrose Care was chosen out of over 1,000 Accredited Living Wage Employers in the London area to be the Living Wage Champion. To put this into context, in another UK region, IKEA won this honour.