Sarah's story
- Jul 24
- 2 min read
The following was written by Sarah*, a member of Homecare Voices
Watch the narrated video below or scroll down to read the text version.
Our company hinders us from working the extra 20 hours. At first they'll tell you that you can't work somewhere else, that you'll have to work at least minimum hours with them for the whole month, yet they don't have hours. Later they were threatening to revoke Certificates of Sponsorship. We're not allowed to put managers as references. They ended up saying the owner would be the referral herself. Now they give us rotas with very long hours, from 7am to 10:45pm, and 1 day off so that we don't pick up those extra shifts elsewhere.
There are company cars. If you're given that company car - especially double runs - then you as a driver have to wake up earlier to pick up the car, drive the other carer whom we meet at the the first client, then when the shift is done ,you have to go park the car back at company designated area, which is far from where we live. Literally you leave the house around 5:30am to pick up the car, knock off at 10:45pm to park the car on the opposite direction where you live, drive around another carer, yet at the end of the day, we get the same pay.
Or even worse, the non-driver gets more hours in between double runs. They have single clients to attend. I'm supposed to drive them to their clients and wait for them to work. The non-driver will have more hours than the driver and me the driver being their chauffeur.
*Sarah's is a pretend name given to protect the writer's anonymity.
Context
If you are in the UK on a Health & Care Worker Visa, your sponsoring employer must provide you with enough work to meet a minimum salary threshold. At the hourly rates found in care work, this translates to full-time hours. In homecare, your hours need to be more than full-time when you consider all of the unpaid gaps between care visits.
Yet it is extremely common for migrant homecare workers not to be given sufficient hours by their sponsoring employer to meet the minimum salary threshold. Technically, a visa holder may work up to 20 hours a week for another employer. Many visa holders seek to top up their substandard pay via this route. At Homecare Voices, we hear time again and again of sponsoring employers actively attempting to block their staff from accessing these additional 20 hours. This is just one of many oppressive features that define the lives of migrant homecare workers.
Homecare Voices is a not-for-profit peer support network run by and for homecare workers. We host a secure online community with daily talking points and fortnightly online meetups. We also connect members of our community with ways to get involved in meaningful activities outside of work, such as participating in research and attending external events.
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