Care home workers: What are your rights?

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Care home workers are at the core of the UK’s social care model, providing vital support for elderly and vulnerable people around the clock.

They are there to ensure residents receive the care and support they need to live safely and comfortably during a difficult period of their lives.

But despite the important role these workers play in society, there are concerns about the rights and conditions they have to work in – including long hours and low pay.

According to figures, a care worker’s average pay is £10.18 per hour. But entry-level care home workers earn an average salary of £15,000 to £16,000 per year – which can work out at less than £55 a day after tax.

Care home workers

In care work, there can also be issues around zero-hour contracts, impossible rotas and sleep-ins due to the nature of the job.

A report carried out by the Centre for Health and the Public Interest, Warwick Business School and University College London surveyed 605 care home staff across the UK to get an insight into what it is really like working in these environments. The study also interviewed 43 care home staff, including workers and managers.

Concerningly, one worker said they worked for ‘two solid weeks’ with just a nurse on a dementia [unit] where all 24 residents had COVID during the pandemic. Another said that vacancy rates and staff turnover is ‘much higher’ than it’s ever been.

According to the research, staff shortages meant workers had to undertake tasks beyond their remit, and sometimes were unqualified for. But experts say, staff shortages may be caused by care workers opting for other job roles with better pay and rights.

The research, which was carried out between October 2021 and April 2022 reflected on how the Covid-19 pandemic affected care workers and care home environments. Staff reported getting ‘little support’ and no cover at work during this time, while also suffering from exhaustion, illness and disillusionment at work.

The study also found that 42% of the care workers who participated in the study said they are in financial distress related to having worked in care homes during the pandemic.

But despite the issues exacerbated by the pandemic, problems including zero-hour contracts, financial insecurity and contractual insecurity have been ongoing in the care sector for years.

Unison, the union for care workers said that in a recent report, 73% of staff said that they would prefer a typical full-time working week of approximately 37 hours if it were available, and the typical number of hours worked was 35 hours a week, though 9% of staff had a typical working week of 16 hours or less.

But despite the nature of care work lending itself to irregular working hours and zero-hour contracts, workers still have rights they are entitled to. We have broken down some of the rights care workers should know about.

Employment Law – what are your rights

Here is a list of just some of the rights that care home workers should be entitled to, but this list is not exhaustive.

Contract

Employees are legally entitled to a contract – a written statement of the main terms and conditions of employment – within two calendar months of starting work.

Your contract should include details of things like pay, holidays and working hours.

Breaks at work

Workers over 18 are entitled to 3 types of break – rest breaks at work, daily rest and weekly rest.

Rest breaks at work

You have the right to a 20 minute rest break during your working day, if you work more than 6 hours a day. This could be a tea or lunch break. The break doesn’t have to be paid – it depends on your employment contract.=

Daily rest

You have the right to 11 hours rest between working days, eg: if you finish work at 8pm, you shouldn’t be asked to start work again until 7am the next day.

Weekly rest

Workers have the right to either:

An uninterrupted 24 hours without any work each week
An uninterrupted 48 hours without any work each fortnight

Travel time

Care workers who need to travel to the home of their patients’ should be paid for the travel time. According to Unison, this means that time spent caring for clients, travelling to appointments and waiting to start the appointment should be included in the pay calculation.

At the very least the work done must average out as at least the national minimum wage or national living wage.

Pay

If you are a worker aged 23 and over, you are legally entitled to at least the National Living Wage.

It is illegal for your employer to pay you below the National Living Wage, so check your pay and make sure it is correct.

23 and over: £10.42
21 to 22: £10.18
18 to 20: £7.49
Under 18: £5.28
Apprentice: £5.28

From April 2024, minimum wages are increasing to the following:

21 and over: £11.44
18 to 20: £8.60
Under 18: £6.40
Apprentice: £6.40

What to do if employer is not exercising my rights?

Raise a grievance

If you believe your employer is not exercising your rights correctly, whether that is not paying you accordingly, or not giving you the required breaks that you’re entitled to, you should try having an informal conversation at first to discuss this.

But if you feel you are not getting anywhere with your query, you can take steps further by raising a formal grievance. Although it is always best to try and resolve matters with your employer informally, if your work-related issue cannot be resolved informally or it is perhaps too serious for it to be resolved informally, it may be appropriate to raise a formal grievance.

A grievance can be made at any time during your employment. If you make a claim before an Employment Tribunal regarding the work-related issue that you are unhappy about without having first raised a grievance, then the Employment Tribunal may in some circumstances reduce the amount of compensation that you would have otherwise been awarded.

For more information about raising a grievance at work, the process and when to take things further, click here.

Employment laws

There are other laws in place to protect care workers in their workplace. Here are some of the laws care workers should know about – however, this list is not exhaustive.

Whistleblowing

Laws are in place to protect whistleblowers at work. A whistleblower is someone who reports types of wrongdoing (that are in the public interest) to their employer or relevant organisation.

If you reasonably believe that one or more of the following matters is happening, taking place or likely to happen you should report the wrongdoing or suspected wrongdoing to the relevant organisation or individual.

A criminal offence
The breach of a legal obligation
A miscarriage of justice
A danger to the health and safety of any individual
Damage to the environment
Deliberate attempt to conceal any of the above.

Whistleblowers – what rights do you have?

Whistleblowing, also known as ‘making a protected disclosure’, is potentially a ‘protected act’ under employment law. This means that employees who are aware of unlawful activity in the workplace, and report it, should not be subjected to any detriment as a result, or dismissed due to making this disclosure.

For employees making a disclosure against their employer, it can, understandably, be a stressful process. In some cases, it can even result in the employee suffering a psychiatric injury. There is often an overlap between a whistleblowing claim in the Employment Tribunal, and a civil claim for Stress at Work.

You are not required to have a specific length of service with your employer to be protected as a whistleblower (unlike a claim for unfair dismissal for example that requires the employee to have the qualifying length of service, which is currently 2 years).

Once you have whistle blown, you could experience bullying or other detrimental repercussions very quickly.

If you have noticed any difference in the way you are treated at work or you have suffered detriment since whistleblowing please contact Oakwood Solicitors as soon as possible to see how we can help.

Discrimination

There are also laws in place to protect employees from workplace discrimination. The Equality Act 2010 prohibits employers from discriminating against employees because of the following protected characteristics:

Age
Disability
Gender reassignment
Marriage and civil partnerships
Pregnancy and maternity
Race
Religion or belief
Sex
Sexual orientation

If you believe that you have been discriminated against because of a protected characteristic, get in touch with Oakwood Solicitors today.