Mother-of-three, Cheryl, has been a support worker for 16 years, working with disabled and elderly people living in their own homes. Transferred, along with 237 others, from an NHS contract to a private health company, she is on strike against pay cuts of 35 per cent, and lower wages for 100 newly contracted staff. Her family’s combined income has dropped by a quarter and Cheryl’s annual holiday has also been reduced by eight days. Under her new contract, should she fall sick, the first three days off work will now be unpaid. Her husband says, “She is up at night worrying about paying the bills.” Cheryl says, of her work, “It’s like we have had all these years building up experience, learning from our mistakes, and now it is all meaningless. The NHS encourages you to have these NVQs, all this training, improve your knowledge, and then the private care companies come along and it all comes to nothing.”