SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3
By Bill Heaney
Labour will deliver a fair deal for home care workers to boost pay packets across Scotland, Deputy Leader Angela Rayner said today.
The party will ensure that the rules on travel time are enforced for home help workers who aren’t currently getting paid what they are legally owed.
Labour estimates that the move will support some 48,331 adult social care workers in Scotland who conduct home care visits.
Rayner said Labour will work with its newly created Single Enforcement Body and HM Revenue and Customs to ensure that the National Minimum Wage regulations on travel time are properly enforced.
While the law states that travel time can be paid in some sectors, like adult social care, not all workers get what they are owed. This leaves workers only paid for the time spent in someone’s home.
Labour has pledged to make work pay with a New Deal for Working People.
As part of this, the party has also pledged a new deal for social care workers to improve terms and conditions and tackle the acute crisis in the sector.
Angela Rayner, pictured above, said: “Tens of thousands of home care workers in Scotland are being left out of pocket by failure to properly enforce the rules on travel time. It’s high time they got what they are owed.
“I used to be a home help myself. I know how hard social care workers graft. It’s an insult that those travelling between home visits are going unpaid. They deserve a fair deal.
“It’s more than five years since the SNP Government released its plan to end exploitative work, but they have failed to deliver for working people while the Tories in Westminster never will.
“A Labour Government will make work pay by ensuring the rules are properly enforced with a New Deal for social care workers.
“This is how we will improve recruitment and retention and raise standards across this vital sector, to the benefit of workers and those they look after alike.”
As of September 2023, there were 64,441 home help workers in Scotland. https://caring-times.co.uk/registered-social-care-workforce-grows-2-5-in-scotland/#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20registered%20social,of%204%2C064%20on%20April%202022.
UNISON analysis has found that some 75% of home help workers have reported that they aren’t paid for travel time. https://www.unison.org.uk/news/2023/06/majority-of-homecare-staff-are-unpaid-for-travel-between-visits-says-unison/#:~:text=Three%20quarters%20(75%25)%20of,says%20UNISON%20today%20 75% of 64,441 workers is 48,331. If an employee has a fixed place of work (such as an office they go to every day), their regular travel time to and from work does not usually count as working time.
However, some jobs have no fixed place of work, where the worker spends a lot of time visiting customers or clients. People who do this work are sometimes known as ‘peripatetic workers’, and under the law can be entitled to paid travel time. This includes domiciliary care workers. https://www.acas.org.uk/working-time-rules/working-time-for-someone-who-travels-for-their-job
The Scottish Government released its plan to end exploitative work in January 2018. https://www.snp.org/our-plan-to-end-exploitative-work/