True hourly pay
Unpaid gaps in homecare and the National Minimum Wage
None of us like a gappy run. But did you know that gaps of up to sixty minutes between care visits count as legally payable working time?
We asked 457 homecare workers the question above. 86% had no idea. After checking 37 homecare runs from this financial year, we found that the average contracted rate of pay was £13.23, but that once unpaid gaps were taken into account, the average true hourly rate of pay dropped to just £9.74. This is well below the legal National Minimum Wage of £12.21. At Homecare Voices, we’re determined not only to let more homecare workers know about this issue, but to do something about it.
Learn more
What's going on?
Homecare Voices founder Rachel Kelso with the Minister For Employment Rights Justin Madders MP in March 2025
You now know that gaps of up to 60 minutes between care visits count as payable working time.
There is so much variation across the tens of thousands of homecare employers. Generally speaking we are either paid purely for contact-time - that’s the time we spend with clients, or for contact time plus travel time, although travel time very rarely covers full gaps of up to 60 minutes.
Now, a legally-compliant homecare agency will make sure they top up pay so that it always meets the National Minimum Wage once the unpaid gaps are taken into account. Whilst such employers are legally in the clear, the vast majority remain guilty of misleading their staff about their true hourly rate of pay. Lots of homecare agencies compete with each other for staff based on who can advertise the highest hourly rate, when in reality their team members take home no more than bang on the National Minimum Wage.
Other homecare agencies are simply getting away with illegal underpayment of the National Minimum Wage.
In March 2024, we met the Minister for Employment Rights to talk to him about this issue. It turns out that whilst homecare workers like us have been kept in the dark about this issue for forever and a day, policy-makers and leaders in adult social care have known all about it for years…
Based on the evidence we showed the Minister, he advised that if you think you have been underpaid the National Minimum Wage then you should report your employer to HMRC who can then investigate further. This can be done anonymously and has been done successfully by a member of Homecare Voices, who was granted five years to make a claim for backdated pay. This has allowed them the breathing space to seek new employment before taking the matter further.
In 2020, a group of ten homecare workers were awarded £100,000 on successfully taking their employer to court over the impact of unpaid travel time on their true hourly rate of pay. It was this case where the judgement stated that “travelling and waiting time of up to an hour between appointments should be compensated as working time". In October 2025, the government revealed that 500 companies - many of them homecare providers - had been fined over £10 million by HMRC for failing to pay their staff the National Minimum Wage, with £6 million of this going straight back into workers’ pockets.
Find out where you stand
We've created three unique resources to help you work out how you are affected by all this
One run checker
1
The best place to start is to look at a single run of visits. You can do this by using our One-Run Checker. This will help you know whether it's worth looking into things further.
We kindly ask for a minimum £5 donation for this service. If you cannot afford this, feel free to download our DIY 10 step manual to the right and give it a go yourself.
2
Pay period log
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Instead of looking at your true hourly rate of pay for just one run, HMRC will make their decision based on the average true hourly rate of pay for all the runs you did during a particular pay period. For most of us, a pay period covers either two weeks or a month worth of runs.
Exclusively for members of Homecare Voices, use the pay period log to find out your average true rate of pay for a whole pay period and get peace of mind ahead of a possible report to HMRC.
Take action
If you are reasonably confident that you may have been illegally underpaid the National Minimum Wage, it is HMRC’s job to look into this for you. You can make an anonymous report to HMRC via the button above.
You have every right to feel misled by your employer if the hourly rate stated in their job advert is far higher than what you’re actually being paid. Report a problem job advert to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) via the button above.
Our MPs can only speak up for us in Parliament if we tell them what's going on. Use the Work Rights Centre’s AI tool to send a personalised letter to your MP about how misleadingly low pay rates in homecare have affected you. Just click the button above.