THE new employer of staff at a Warrington care home has given a pay boost.

Last month, it was announced that Dovehaven Care Homes had completed the successful acquisition of Callands Care Home.

The home has become the largest care home within the north west-based Dovehaven group, with 120 registered beds.

Since completion, the home is currently unrated, however Callands Care Home has a history of 'inadequate’ ratings by regulator the Care Quality Commission.

But this did not put Dovehaven off, and the group is dedicated to implementing significant improvements and investments to elevate its standards back to ‘good’.

As part of this, Dovehaven has committed to becoming a real living wage employer, plus an extra 20p for all staff.

The pay uplift for staff at Callands Care Home will come as a welcome benefit for working for the new care provider.

Paul Mulhearn, Dovehaven’s senior finance business partner, said “Here at Dovehaven, we are committed to investing in our people, and it is by investing in our people that we believe we can offer quality care to all our residents.

“We wanted to reward our employees for their hard work and commitment to quality care, and attract more great people to our organisation, which is why we took the decision to commit to paying the real living wage to all staff members.”

After announcing the acquisition of the Callands Road facility from previous owners HC-One, a Dovehaven spokesman said: “We acknowledge the challenges faced by Callands Care Home.”

Jenny Davies, CEO of Dovehaven, added: “We are delighted to welcome Callands Care Home to the Dovehaven family.

"While we recognise the work needed to improve the home's CQC rating, we are confident in our ability to deliver the transformative changes Callands deserves.

"We are committed to investing in the care facility, employee training and resident wellbeing programmes to ensure Callands thrives once again.

"We are excited to embark on this journey with the dedicated Callands team and residents, and we look forward to building a bright future together.”