13/01/2015
Andrew George, West Cornwall MP, asked the Minister for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs to set a conference to address concerns regarding non-payment of minimum wage to UK’s care workers.
George as well as several members of the Health Select Committee sent the request to Employment Minister Jo Swinson last January 8, 2015.
George is a long-time Liberal Democrat MP and has been continuously crusading for improvements in the standards of the home care industry.
The Lib Dem MP’s recent campaign came after a National Audit Office report revealed 10 per cent or about 250,000 care workers throughout UK are being paid salaries lower than the mandated £6.50/hour minimum wage.
George attributed the issue to several factors, particularly non-payment of travel time and zero-hour contracts.
The practice of not paying care workers for the time they spend travelling from one client to another is prevalent in UK’s care sector. UNISON’s freedom of information request last October 2014 revealed that 93 per cent of councils across England and Wales do not make it a contractual requirement for providers to compensate their workers’ travel time.
To compound the dilemma of workers in the care sector, zero-hour contracts, where workers are not appraised of specific daily or weekly hourly quotas, are also being observed by many providers. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said in its 2013 report that about 160,000 workers in the care industry are under zero-hour contracts.
HMRC also published in 2013 data showing that half of UK home care providers have not paid their workers minimum wage between the years 2011 and 2013. The government, however, has not yet conducted further investigations since then.
George told the Cornishman last January 8 that home care workers perform important task which are not desired by many people. Consequently, George said they should be compensated at least a living wage.
The Lib Dem MP said: “Home care workers are the backbone of our community and social care system. But with budget and cost cutting becoming a priority for Government and local authorities there is a race to the bottom, with front line workers having to suffer most.”
