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Many councils fail to ensure minimum wage for home care workers, says union

By staff writers
January 7, 2015

Figures obtained by the Unison union show most councils in England and Wales are failing to ensure home care workers are paid the national minimum wage.

The union says freedom of information figures show only six per cent of local authorities make it a contractual condition for care providers to pay their workers' travel time.

It is common practice for carers to be paid for the time spent in an elderly person's home, but not for the time spent travelling between clients. This can amount to 30 per cent of a carer's shift, says Unison. The UK Home Care Association insists it accounts for travel time in its hourly rates but says it will become ''increasingly difficult'' for providers to comply with the minimum wage unless councils start to pay them more.

In 2011 and 2013 HMRC investigated the sector and forced a number of companies who were failing to meet the minimum wage requirement to pay up. But investigations have stopped and the situation has worsened, says Unison.

In April this year, HMRC said almost half the care companies it investigated were not complying with minimum wage regulations. Because of the investigation, several companies were forced to pay care workers the money that they were legally owed.

The union says Business Secretary Vince Cable has the power to instruct HMRC to recommence investigations. They claim he could "name and shame some of the biggest care providers in the country and get the problem fixed."

Unison has expressed the belief that the Busness Secretary has failed to take further action partly because there has been no pressure from the public. The union has launched a petition to demand that he restart investigations now.

* The petition is avaiable here: https://campaign.goingtowork.org.uk/petitions/catch-the-criminal-care-em...

[Ekk/4]

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