06/04/2015
HMRC has ordered a provider to pay a care worker £800 for non-compliance with minimum wage payment.
In its decision, HMRC concluded the 55-year-old carer, Debra Claridge, was not paid by Prestwood Home Carestatutory minimum wage as the time she spent travelling from one client to another was omitted from her pay check.
Claridge, who filed her claim last 2013, said that she initially received £6/hour but then her pay dwindled as her travel time was not included in her wage.
Prestwood Home Care is owned by Completelink Ltd, which is based in Stourbridge, and has provided home care services to Dudley Council during the tenure of Claridge up until the contract expired.
Completelink’s director, Robert Hunter, maintained the company has not violated the law. He told the Stourbridge News last April 2 that the company was even complimented for its openness by HMRC during an inspection in 2014.
Hunter said: “Whilst the company had the option to take this to an employment tribunal, the legal costs involved with this would have been very substantial and were viewed by us as prohibitive.In light of this, whilst not accepting the validity of the notice received from HMRC, we chose to pay the underpayment notice.”
Think tank Resolution Foundation recently published a study wherein it was found that 1/10 care workers in the UK are not being paid statutory minimum wage. Claridge, however, said that HMRC has not really seriously considered the issue.
Claridge told the Stourbridge News: “It’s a national scandal. We already know about 220,000 care workers who aren’t paid the hours they are working or for travel time. They are letting the companies get away with it and I would go as far as saying HMRC are going out of their way to protect rogue employers.”
