Working time

To the best of our knowledge, the following all counts as payable working time. Time spent:

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• At care visits

• Travelling from one visit to the next

• Waiting for the next visit to start, provided you are not waiting at home

• Doing mandatory training, whether this takes place online or in-person

• Completing paperwork, hard-copy or online

• Collecting supplies from your office

• In mandatory meetings with managers

• Communicating with colleagues about clients etc.

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Here is info on GOV.UK about what counts as working time 

Here is info from HMRC's National Minimum Wage manual about:

• What counts as payable travel time

• What counts as payable waiting time   

To comply with National Minimum Wage, your employer should top up your pay for each pay period if necessary so that you receive at least the National Minimum Wage for all of your working time. 

In many cases, homecare workers are paid the National Minimum Wage as opposed to their higher contracted hourly rate as a result of unpaid working time. 

In some cases, employers do not top up wages sufficiently, illegally underpaying workers as a result.

We recommend using our free weekly record to log all of your working time.

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You will then be able to work out how much you should have been paid for a given pay period in order to meet National Minimum Wage (total working hours x NMW).

If you suspect you may have been illegally underpaid:

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1. Inform your trade union immediately so they can advise and support throughout, or else contact ACAS.

2. Speak to your employer about your concerns. If you remain concerned:

3. Present your employer with a production notice, which obliges them to provide records within 14 days that show they have paid you the National Minimum Wage. If they fail to produce these records in the given timeframe, you can either:

   • Proceed to an employment tribunal where - if your complaint is upheld - your employer will have to pay you a sum worth 80x the National Minimum Wage. More info here. OR​

   • Make a complaint to HMRC, who will investigate, asking for evidence of rotas, working time and payslips (which is why it helps enormously to keep good records of working time along the way). If HMRC finds in your favour, you will be awarded back-pay. You can see how much workers have been awarded via this route in previous cases here. Make your complaint to HMRC here. Note that if you proceed with an employment tribunal, you are unlikely to also be able to report to HMRC!

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This guidance for domiciliary care workers from the Low Income Tax Reform Group is also clear and reliable.