MP launches new Bill bid so carers are paid minimum wage for travelling time
All carers could be paid for time spent travelling between appointments under plans to boost their wages.
Labour MP Paula Barker will launch a bid next month to close a loophole which campaigners say means carers’ pay often dips below the legal minimum.
While existing legislation states "travel time and waiting time for the purposes of the job" should count as work, critics accuse many providers of failing to follow the law.
They say hundreds of thousands of care workers are only paid for time spent helping cook, clean and wash their clients.
Ms Barker's National Minimum Wage Bill would place a new duty on care firms to demonstrate they fully comply with the law - writing it into firms' contracts with local councils.
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Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Liverpool Wavertree MP Ms Barker said: “The premise of the Bill is really simple - it’s merely to enforce existing legislation, and that’s quite shocking really.
The MP will use the Ten Minute Bill parliamentary device (Daily Mirror)“This is predominantly low-paid, women workers in the social care sector.
“As a result of not being paid travel time their pay falls below the minimum wage.”
Current hourly minimum rates are £10.42 for workers aged 23 and over; £10.18 for those aged 21 and 22; £7.49 for 18-20 year olds; and £5.28 for 16 and 17 year olds.
Former Unison union convener Ms Barker will unveil her plan to change the law to ensure all workers get at least those rates under Parliament’s Ten Minute Rule on May 2.
It is due to be debated again on November 24 - and she hopes MPs from all parties will support the proposal.
“I know the impact not receiving that payment has on carers’ standard of living,” she said.
“These are people who are providing services to some of the most vulnerable people in our society and I think we have an obligation to ensure that when we are privileged enough to make legislation, we make sure legislation is enforced.
The MP hopes it will be help staff recruitment and retention in the sector (Getty Images)“These people deserve our unwavering support, dignity and respect.”
Analysts estimate there are 165,000 vacancies for carers, alongside 132,000 in the health service.
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Strains on social care mean thousands of hospital patients who have recovered and are well enough to leave remain stranded in the NHS.
Campaigners believe lifting pay for carers - or simply paying them what they are legally owed - could bolster the sector and allow more patients to leave hospital, freeing up space for new admissions, tackling hospital waiting times and cutting ambulance delays.
“We should be doing everything we can to recruit and retain staff … if we ensured they were receiving their legal entitlement so we resolved the recruitment and retention crisis, that would have a knock-on effect on our NHS,” said Ms Barker.
“While many people see it as a low-paid, low-skilled job, it really isn’t. For the majority of people in this sector it’s a vocation.
“But some people who wish to go into this sector look at the payments and think, ‘I just couldn’t afford to feed my family, I couldn’t afford to heat my home’.”
Living Wage Foundation director Katherine Chapman said: “At a time when low-paid workers are taking drastic measures like cutting back on food to cope with soaring bills, it’s even more shocking that hundreds of thousands of care staff are short of even the legal minimum rate of pay after travel time is taken into account.”
Living Wage Foundation director Katherine ChapmanUnison’s senior national officer for social care, Gavin Edwards, said: “This Bill is good news - the failure to pay travel time sums up what’s wrong with the care system.
"Home care workers have no option but to travel to the people they look after; not paying them for all their hours worked is wrong and unlawful.
“The care system needs a complete overhaul. A National Care Service would ensure proper pay and decent working conditions for all.”
The Mirror is campaigning for Fair Care for All.
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