Care industry victory in the battle against overnight pay

CARERS sleeping at their workplace in case they are needed overnight will not be paid minimum hourly rates after a landmark Court of Appeal ruling yesterday.

Three senior judges said carers are only entitled to the payment when they are required to be awake for work.

It is a significant victory for the care sector, which had warned that two- thirds of employers feared bankruptcy if the decision had backed workers. Care England, which represents independent providers, said this could have cost £400million in back-dated pay and £200million a year in higher wages from 2020.

Chief executive Professor Martin Green said: ‘We welcome the ruling and hope we can move forward without a huge back pay liability hanging over the sector and threatening the care of thousands.’

The judgement follows a hearing in March when the Royal Mencap Society challenged a tribunal decision in favour of Claire Tomlinson-Blake, a support worker in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

Her job helping vulnerable adults living in their own homes sometimes meant doing a sleep-in shift from 10pm to 7am.

She was paid an allowance of £29.05, which included pay for an hour’s work. If Mrs Tomlinson-Blake was woken and had to work more than an hour, she would receive extra pay for the time worked.

The tribunal found she used her experience to know when she was needed so was ‘working’ even when asleep. It said she should receive an hourly minimum wage, totalling more than £60 per shift, and this was upheld by the Employment Appeal Tribunal last year.

But yesterday Lord Justice Underhill said: ‘Sleepers-in are to be characterised as available for work rather than actually working.

‘The only time that counts for national minimum wage is when the worker is required to be awake for the purposes of working.’

After the ruling, Mencap chairman Derek Lewis said: ‘The prospect of having to make large unfunded back payments had threatened to bankrupt many providers, jeopardising the care of vulnerable people.’

But Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said society did not value carers. He added: ‘Social care is in crisis and this wouldn’t have arisen if the Government had put enough money into the system and enforced minimum wage laws properly.’

‘Threatened many with bankruptcy’