£100k to homecare workers underpaid as a result of low mileage payments
News today: "Fair Work Agency recovers over £100,000 in unpaid mileage. Investigation resulted in domiciliary care workers at a care provider receiving reimbursement for mileage expenses incurred during their work"
This headline relates to a single homecare provider. Just one.
Our own report published earlier this year found that only 29% of over 500 homecare workers surveyed received the maximum approved mileage rate. 14% received NO mileage reimbursement at all.
HMRC confirmed in a Freedom of Information request dated 16th April 2026 that “if a worker spends money on something connected with their employment and is not repaid then that amount will reduce their pay for minimum wage purposes”.
The upshot is that the cost of fuel for work-related travel* is deductible from overall pay for NMW compliance purposes. If mileage payments are not sufficient to cover costs relating to work-related vehicle expenses, this can result in workers being illegally underpaid the NMW.
Earlier in the year, Homecare Voices established that one of our members' pay likely fell short of NMW based on fuel costs alone to the tune of £424.18 PER MONTH, after their employer decided to stop all mileage payments in return for raising wages by a few pence an hour.
See our findings about mileage payments on page 22 of Behind Closed Doors. Other underexplored issues are covered on other pages.
Homecare Voices incorporates this glaring mileage issue into our advocacy about the risk of National Minimum Wage underpayment in homecare. This sits alongside the impact of unpaid travel, waiting and training time. Taken together, overall risk compounds.
Kudos to whoever had the courage to report this particular care provider to the Fair Work Agency. Here's where others can do the same if they have any reason to suspect they - or someone they know - may have been underpaid.
It's time to put an end to this unacceptable state of affairs. In what world does the care sector expect to attract and retain people according to such conditions? Shift-based pay and a mandatory mileage rate for all care workers now.
*You can work out roughly how much you are owed for work-related fuel using this info:
Miles travelled
Average cost of relevant fuel in the time period in question based on publicly available data
MPG estimate for your vehicle
Average speed estimate
If you're a homecare worker with any reason to suspect you may have been underpaid the National Minimum Wage, you can make a confidential report here and HMRC / the Fair Work Agency will investigate on your behalf.
Meanwhile feel free to start using our free working time log to check you've been paid at least the National Minimum Wage for working time. Mileage is a separate issue on top of this. Bear with us while we produce a tool to support with this, but see above* for the basics of how to calculate what you are owed.
We are a not-for-profit, free-to-join network run by and for current and former homecare workers throughout the UK. Join us for peer support, opportunities to lend your voice to research and policy, and more.
If you've never been a homecare worker yourself but would like to stay up to speed with our work, Raise Your Hand via the homepage and we'll keep you in the loop with a monthly email.
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