This was written 11 years ago...
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
A member of Homecare Voices wrote the following as an assignment for their apprenticeship in 2015, over a decade ago. It is striking how little has changed. Where were you?
In April 2014, Baroness Kingsmill did a review into the pay and conditions of homecare workers, and concluded: “It's Shocking That Care Workers Are So Underpaid And Undervalued”.
There have been several other high profile reviews over the last 18 months including a BBC investigation, a review by HM Revenue and Customs, a report by Unison and most recently The Burstow Report into the shameful treatment of homecare workers. The Burstow Report highlights that of the 685,000 homecare workers in the country, between 160,000 and 220,000 are not even being paid the National Minimum Wage.
This is a scandal that has been going on for far too long and is in fact getting worse due to the constraints placed on council budgets. Low-paid care workers increasingly bear the cost of care, often without pay for travel time (which is illegal), required training, or petrol expenses. This is a national disgrace but does anyone care enough to actually do something about it?
My experience of working as a care assistant in the community
When I was made redundant in October 2010 following 26 years working in the finance industry, I decided I wanted a complete change of careers and to do something more worthwhile. When I told people including my husband that I wanted to become a community carer they thought I was mad and would never stick it. The usual comment was “How could you do that? You will have to wipe people’s bottoms”. This actually made me more determined to give it a go and I pointed out that “You would never say that to a nurse”. There is definitely a stigma attached to being a carer, which is reinforced by poor pay, conditions and training.
I have now been a carer for four years and in that time I have experienced first-hand the poor treatment and conditions carers have to work under. However, I have found it very rewarding and love the fact I can make a difference to a person’s life, which is why I am still doing it, though I must admit it is getting harder to continue, as the hours are getting longer, and the pay is getting less.
Problems for carers and what needs addressing
Zero-hours contracts
I have worked for four different care companies in the past four years and, with the exception of the first company where I had a 16 hour contract, I have been on zero hours contracts. While zero-hours contracts should give flexibility to both the employer and employee it actually only benefits the employer. If you don’t take an extra shift, you are usually penalised on the next week's rota, normally by having your hours cut. They have total control and make sure you know it!
Certainly, I have worked over 50 hours some weeks not including driving time, so actually around 65 hours. I've been completely shattered as a result but felt pressurised to take just one more call to avoid a drop in next week’s rota. If the company decides they want to dismiss someone, they quite often don’t use the usual disciplinary route, just drop their hours.
Another trick was our holiday pay, which was based on an average of our last 12 weeks' pay. When you put in for holiday, quite often you would see your hours cut in the weeks leading up to your holiday, effectively reducing your entitlement. The company held all the aces!
Zero-hours contracts are abused and should be replaced with part time and full time contracts for all employees. Perhaps after an initial 3 month probation period staff should be able to agree a contract suitable for both parties, with overtime available rather than 20 hours one week, 50 the next. The employer will have to be more organised and careful to recruit the right people.
Travel time
Generally speaking, domiciliary care companies do not pay travel time even at the National Minimum Wage. When I worked for one company, I was travelling an average of 15 hours a week unpaid. I regularly do a 4 hour run which in reality has me out of the house for 6 hours with travelling time spent driving between calls, which means I am earning around £4.70 an hour. That's £1.80 an hour under the National Minimum Wage.
This is against the law, but the law is not being enforced. HMRC are not doing enough to enforce the law, and the councils are being negligent in not reviewing what the private companies are paying their employees. In my experience, many care workers are unaware of their rights and even so it is very hard when you are on a zero-hours contract to stand up for those rights.
Since the care companies are getting away with not paying for travel time, they pay scant regard to how they plan the rotas. I am sure the time spent travelling would soon be cut back if they were paying us correctly. In addition to the lack of payment for travelling, there is also the limited times to contend with between calls which causes stress to both carer racing to attend each call on time and the person waiting for you to arrive late due to insufficient travel time.
Furthermore, as they don’t pay for mileage or time spent travelling to the first and last visits in each run, they seem to start you as far away from home as possible, therefore making a further saving on mileage expenses for the company.
Working hours
The companies I have worked for do not use a proper shift system, but rely on a split shift system, which means you are usually expected to work from 07:00 to 22:00 with at best 2 hours off in the day. This means that a carer generally must leave the house at just after 06:30 and get home just before 22:30 at night: a 14-hour day. Then you must do the same the next day. This leaves the carer with just eight hours to eat, sleep and get ready. Little wonder the carers are extremely tired - if not exhausted - which not only compromises the quality of care they can provide, but also the carer's health. A lot of our time is spent driving while tired - with all the associated risks. The nature of the business does obviously call for flexibility, but I feel with some extra forethought, a shift system could be put in place to allow a better life/work balance.
Pay
Councils need to confirm that the private companies they outsource care contracts to pay the National Minimum Wage to include travel time, in accordance with the law as encapsulated within the working time regulations. At the moment, they avoid the issue by leaving it to the private companies. Carers are undervalued and underpaid, particularly when you take into account the lack of payment for travel time. I could earn more working in a supermarket or cleaning but I do care work because it is rewarding, I love it and I make a difference.
Time
The council now pays the care company only for the actual minutes spent in the service user’s home. We have to phone in on arrival and out as we leave. No account is taken for the amount of time it takes to gain entry to the property, the walk down the country lane, or the time you spend saying hello to the person on arrival. The council further requires us to be totally task orientated and does not leave any time for compassion, empathy and the human touch. I for one could not work in this way and therefore you constantly run a little over your allotted time, again this is funded by the carer. There is seldom enough time allowed for travelling between calls which l makes it very stressful for the carer.
What can be done to improve carers' conditions?
These areas need to be addressed by the government, who should ensure the National Minimum Wage is enforced and that care workers' rights are not ignored with regard to working hours or pay.
Areas that need addressing
Zero hours contracts. After 3 months every employee should have a proper contract.
Enforce the law regarding National Minimum Wage, hold councils responsible for ensuring private companies are paying minimum wage to include travel time.
Pay travel time at National Minimum Wage. This would force companies to arrange the visits more methodically and cut down on travel time.
Set a limit of a maximum of 10 miles maximum for first and last visit of day. Any distance after that should be paid for in terms of both mileage and travel time.
Also pay for having to come home during the day. Currently even if you have only a one hour break, they count this as two seperate blocks of workinh time. Using this method I have in the past travelled 56 miles unpaid, due to the split shift system, and I know of carers who have travelled further.
Ensure training carried out, and carers are qualified to do the job. Also make it mandatory that all new carers should have much longer and more supervision before being sent out on their own, especially to clients with more complex needs.
A proper shift system should be put in place to ensure carers get a better life work balance and are not too tired when working and driving.
Improve access to holiday pay. I currently work for a company where I have discovered holiday pay is being underpaid to carers. In the past I have worked for a company where some people found it almost impossible to get holiday approved. They would then be told it’s too late and they would not pay in lieu or carry over. Holiday pay is, I believe, another area where carers are being short changed, saving some of the private companies thousands of pounds.
Improve commissioning. Our council has put in place a new tendering system. This has cut down on the number of companies authorised to receive clients from the council. This has, I believe, put the companies under extra pressure as they must tender for so many clients each day or be fined. This means they must be constantly recruiting but not sure if they have enough clients to give the carers sufficient hours, or take on more clients than they can service at the present time, causing more stress to existing carers and impacting on the quality of care.
What can we do?
Write to our MPs asking them to support care workers and ensure their council is not facilitating underpayment of the National Minimum Wage to homecare workers. It is election year they may be more receptive!
Contact HMRC and ask them to investigate the companies we know are underpaying the National Minimum Wage. If the carers are being underpaid, then they are paying less tax to the government so actually these companies are also defrauding the tax man.
In conclusion, these issues need to be scrutinised and resolved. With an ever-ageing population, carers in the community are a vital part of the domiciliary care provision and need to be treated with respect, value and fairness. Currently, we are the forgotten workforce.
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