A Congresbury care home has increased its pay for carers and nurses as a thank you for their exceptional work during the pandemic.

The move at The Leonard Elms Care Home makes their pay scales one of the highest for care homes in the area.

Carers will now receive between £9.85 and £14.60 per hour, with trained nurses earning between £19.50 and £21.50 per hour.

The award-winning home now plans to undertake a mass recruitment drive, hiring across a range of roles with best-in-class training and opportunities to progress into senior management positions.

Hayley Darby, who has worked as a carer at the Leonard Elms since 2015, said: "We have a great team who have continued to work hard during the coronavirus pandemic.

"I have recently been informed that we will be getting a pay rise and I am over the moon. I really appreciate this pay rise the company are giving us and I feel like all our hard work has been recognised.

"Thank you to the company for this pay rise, it makes me feel that our work has been appreciated over the last two years and I am very grateful."

Optima Care Partnership, which runs the Leonard Elms, recently invested more than £100,000 into their facilities.

This includes a new dementia specific courtyard with sensory gardens and refurbished interior which has been designed around the needs of its dementia care residents following research and study with the University of Stirling.

The partnership plans to continue their heavy investment over the coming years.

Oli Bliss, managing director at Optima Care Partnership, said: “I am very happy that we are able to increase the staff wages to this level, they thoroughly deserve it, it has been a difficult couple of years.

"This will now enable us to recruit more staff into our experienced team.”