Care worker rights: pay, rotas and safety in home care and care homes
Unpaid travel, a cancelled visit, a hoist that never arrives. Check what your care employer owes you, what you can challenge now, and which promised rights are still to come.
The drive between care visits is part of your job, even when it disappears from your payslip. So is the handover after a care-home shift. A rota that pays only for the minutes beside a client can leave you below minimum wage. Start with the time you actually work, not the hours your employer chooses to pay.
- £12.71
- hourly minimum at 21+, from 1 April 2026
- £123.25
- weekly SSP ceiling from 6 April 2026
- 5.6 wks
- statutory paid annual leave for workers
- 6 mths
- usual GB tribunal limit; transition rules apply
Which rights apply to you?
Employees and other workers have minimum-wage and paid-holiday rights. SSP has separate employee eligibility rules that can cover agency and zero-hours carers. If your provider sets the rota, directs the work and expects you personally to do it, get your status checked before accepting a “self-employed” label. Genuine self-employment does not bring the same pay and holiday rights.
This guide states the law at 1 October 2026. Equality law, the holiday reforms and tribunal rules below are for Great Britain unless we say otherwise. Northern Ireland differs.
Travel between visits counts for minimum wage
For hourly paid work, add all hours that count across the pay reference period. Subtract qualifying work expenses from pay for work, then divide by those hours. Do not subtract ordinary tax or National Insurance. Since 1 April 2026, the hourly minimum is £12.71 at 21 and over, £10.85 at 18 to 20, and £8 under 18. Apprentices should check their applicable rate.
Travel between appointments counts. Ordinary travel to your first visit and home from the last does not count for minimum wage. Travel pay need not appear separately, but total pay must cover all counted hours at the applicable minimum. Your contract may promise more.
| Time | Does it count? |
|---|---|
| Care visits or work with residents | Yes |
| Driving, walking or taking a bus between visits | Yes |
| Required training, handovers and care notes | Yes, where you are working or training as a worker |
| Waking night shifts | Yes, the whole working shift |
| Genuine sleep-ins with suitable sleeping facilities | Time awake for the purpose of working |
| Ordinary commute to the first visit and home from the last | No, for minimum wage |
| A split-shift gap you can genuinely use as your own time | No; required waiting at work can be different |
Travel time and mileage are separate. There is no general legal right to a 45p mileage payment. That tax-approved rate does not prove your actual costs. Unreimbursed expenses incurred doing the job can reduce minimum-wage pay, so keep receipts and check your contract’s mileage promise. See HMRC’s expenses guidance and our care-worker pay guide.
Example: Amara’s home visits
Amara, 25, receives £12.71 for each contact hour. Five one-hour visits pay £63.55. Add 1 hour 40 minutes travelling between visits and her effective rate is £9.53. Another £21.18 would bring that day’s pay to the minimum, about £106 over five identical days. The legal test uses the whole pay reference period, not each day separately.
Example: paying for petrol
Amara earns £101.68 for eight counted hours. Her actual business-journey petrol expense is £13.50; her employer reimburses £3.60. The unreimbursed £9.90 reduces minimum-wage pay to £91.78, or £11.47 an hour. This assumes an evidenced expense, not a mileage allowance treated as a legal entitlement.
Sleep-ins are not waking nights
Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake [2021] UKSC 8 confirms the distinction. On a genuine sleep-in where you are expected to sleep, suitable facilities are provided and calls to work are occasional, only time awake for the purpose of working counts for minimum wage. Record every interruption. Being awake without working is different.
On a waking night, the working hours count. Calling it a “sleep-in” does not change the job you do. Check your contractual entitlement as well as the minimum-wage floor.
Example: care-home nights
Jon, 30, receives £60 for 9pm to 7am. On a genuine sleep-in, he works for 45 minutes after a resident falls. The fee covers minimum wage for that counted time. If it is a waking night, all 10 working hours count, requiring £127.10 at £12.71. The gap is £67.10 before checking the rest of the pay period.
Training, induction and handovers count
Required e-learning, induction, shadow shifts, supervision, meetings and care-plan reading count when undertaken as a worker. Doing the module at your kitchen table does not make it free. Before a job starts, the question is whether you are already a worker during training; not every recruitment assessment creates that status. See our pre-shift training guide.
A £45 uniform deduction from 20 hours at £12.71 leaves £209.20, or £10.46 an hour. Written consent cannot excuse a minimum-wage breach. Separately, a deduction without statutory authority, an applicable written contractual term or prior written consent can be unlawful under wage-deduction law. DBS costs have different rules: HMRC does not generally treat a check paid for to secure a job as an employment expense. Ask for advice on the particular charge.
Zero-hours rotas and cancelled shifts
In Great Britain, a zero-hours exclusivity clause cannot stop you taking other work. But there is no general statutory short-notice cancellation payment yet. Guaranteed hours, an accepted shift or your contract may still mean pay is owed. Save the original rota and ask which contractual term permits non-payment. See our cancelled-shift guide.
A gap between an 11am finish and a 5pm return can be unpaid if you are genuinely free. Required waiting at work is different. Record which it was.
Deductions, fees and visa threats
Employment agencies cannot charge care workers for finding them work. Sponsor guidance prohibits passing certain costs to workers, including the Immigration Skills Charge and the relevant Certificate of Sponsorship fee. Other visa costs have different rules. Demand an itemised explanation before accepting a repayment claim.
A wage complaint does not itself cancel your visa. But losing a job or sponsorship can affect permission to stay. Get independent advice promptly about sponsorship threats or a revoked sponsor licence. New overseas recruitment to care-worker and senior-care-worker routes closed on 22 July 2025. In-country extensions and switches remain subject to transitional conditions.
Sick pay and holiday on irregular hours
Since 6 April 2026, SSP is £123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower, for up to 28 weeks. There is no lower earnings limit or waiting period. You can qualify from the first full working day off sick, without four consecutive sick days. Payment covers qualifying days, normally your working days, not every calendar day.
Notify your employer and check eligibility. Qualifying zero-hours and agency carers can receive SSP; the contract label does not decide it. Our SSP guide explains the rules.
Example: low earnings and sick pay
Lena averages £100 a week, giving an £80 weekly SSP rate. Marco averages £200: his 80% figure is £160, so the £123.25 ceiling applies. A shorter absence needs a qualifying-day calculation.
Workers have 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday. Fewer working days mean fewer days’ leave, not fewer weeks. In Great Britain, for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, legally defined irregular-hours and part-year workers accrue 12.07% of hours worked each pay period. Zero-hours status does not automatically meet that definition.
For those workers, employers can pay rolled-up holiday pay as a separate 12.07% addition to total pay. It cannot be hidden inside minimum-wage pay, and you must still be allowed leave. All their statutory holiday pay uses total-pay rules. For regular-hours workers, at least four weeks must reflect normal remuneration, including regularly paid overtime. See our holiday-pay guide.
Example: irregular-hours holiday
Sofia works 100 hours in one monthly pay period. Her 12.07 hours’ accrual rounds to 12 hours under the statutory rule. If her £1,271 earnings attract rolled-up holiday pay, the employer must add £153.41 separately. She still gets to take leave.
Unsafe staffing, lone working and lifting
Your employer must assess risks and provide necessary training and equipment. For lone visits, ask who checks your arrival and departure, how you summon help, and what happens if a client is violent. Manual-handling duties start with avoiding hazardous lifts, then assessing and reducing remaining risks. If the care plan requires a hoist or two carers, understaffing is not a safe substitute.
For leaving or refusing to return to unsafe work, Great Britain’s legal protection requires a reasonable belief in serious and imminent danger you could not reasonably avert. Section 44 protects workers against detriment for specified danger-related action; section 100 protects employees against dismissal. Neither has a service qualifying period. Not every staffing disagreement meets the tests. Record the danger, tell the manager and ask for safe arrangements.
Report worker-safety concerns to HSE or the relevant enforcing authority, or HSENI in Northern Ireland. For risks to people receiving care, use CQC in England, the Care Inspectorate in Scotland, Care Inspectorate Wales or RQIA in Northern Ireland. Regulatory complaints do not recover wages or stop tribunal deadlines.
Rest is a safety issue too
Most adult workers normally get a 20-minute uninterrupted break when working more than six hours, 11 hours’ daily rest, and 24 hours’ weekly rest or 48 hours per fortnight. The average working-week limit is 48 hours unless you validly opt out. Continuity-of-care exceptions can affect rest, usually requiring compensatory rest. An hours opt-out does not waive all break rights. See our working-time guide.
Harassment and pregnancy-related rota cuts
Great Britain’s Equality Act 2010 prohibits sexual harassment and harassment related to specified characteristics, including race. Since 26 October 2024, employers must take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. That duty matters on lone visits too. Log incidents, who knew and the provider’s response.
Cutting hours because you are pregnant can be unlawful discrimination from day one. Dismissal for pregnancy or maternity reasons can be automatically unfair without the usual service requirement. Save before-and-after rotas and evidence of when you told the provider.
Once notified, the employer must assess your pregnancy-related risks. It must adjust conditions or hours where necessary, offer suitable alternative work if available, then suspend an eligible employee on full pay if no safe solution remains. Ask for the assessment in writing. A safety assessment is not permission to stop paying you.
What to do now: records, reports and deadlines
UNISON, GMB, Community, Unite and United Voices of the World organise care workers. Ask which represents your workplace and what help it offers for existing disputes. Joining does not guarantee legal representation for a problem that already began. Acas, Citizens Advice and law centres also give advice.
- Save your employment records. Keep rotas, actual hours, journeys, expenses, training requirements, payslips and messages. Log time awake for work on sleep-ins. Do not copy residents’ medical records into a personal pay file.
- Ask for the calculation. Write: “The payslip records five contact hours, plus 100 minutes were spent travelling between visits. Please show how all counted hours and unreimbursed work expenses were included, and correct any minimum-wage arrears.” Use your own figures. Get specialist advice first if sponsorship is threatened.
- Report underpayment. Use the pay and work rights complaints route. HMRC enforces minimum wage on behalf of the Fair Work Agency. Our reporting guide explains it. SSP disputes can go to HMRC; holiday claims need separate advice. Do not assume the Agency’s planned powers are all operational.
- Report danger separately. Tell the manager what safe work requires. Contact the relevant safety or care regulator and your union if you face retaliation.
- Notify Acas in time. In Great Britain, timely early-conciliation notification affects the tribunal deadline. A grievance or minimum-wage complaint does not pause that clock. Keep the conciliation certificate and get the deadline checked.
Which tribunal deadline applies?
From 1 October 2026, the usual Great Britain limit for unlawful deductions, discrimination and unfair-dismissal claims is six months less one day. Transitional rules preserve old limits where the relevant date is earlier. For wages, that is normally payday or the last deduction in a qualifying series; for unfair dismissal, the effective termination date. Continuing discrimination has separate rules.
Before Acas adjustments, a single unlawful deduction paid on 1 October 2026 has a 31 March 2027 deadline. One paid on 30 September 2026 has a 29 December 2026 deadline under the old rule. A newer payslip does not automatically revive every old shortfall. Check our time-limits guide and get advice promptly.
If you work in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland
Minimum wage and reformed SSP apply UK-wide. Northern Ireland has separate equality and working-time laws; the Equality Act 2010 is Great Britain law.
Scotland’s funded direct-care rate is £13.45 from April 2026. It covers eligible commissioned third- and private-sector services where the provider agreed the uplift. It is not a universal statutory care wage. If eligible, ask for backdating, then email the local-authority commissioning team with “Adult Social Care Pay Uplift Enquiry”. Wales has separate commissioning arrangements: check the rate promised for your service.
In Northern Ireland, use the Labour Relations Agency, not Acas. Tribunal deadlines, holiday rules and harassment legislation differ. Do not import Great Britain’s six-month deadline or 12.07% reforms. See our Northern Ireland guide. Scottish tribunal breach-of-contract limits also have a separate scheduled change on 9 November 2026.
Questions people ask
Must travel between care visits be paid separately?
Not necessarily as a separate payslip item. It must count in the minimum-wage calculation, and your contract may promise a separate payment. Mileage expenses are a different question.
Is £60 for a sleep-in legal?
It can be for a genuine sleep-in with suitable facilities where only time awake for work counts. On a waking night, working hours count. Check the pay period and your contract.
Can your employer cancel a shift without paying?
No general statutory cancellation payment is in force on 1 October 2026. Your contract, guaranteed hours or an agreed shift may still require pay. Save the original rota.
Do zero-hours carers get sick pay and holiday?
Workers get paid holiday. SSP depends on its employee eligibility rules, which can cover zero-hours and agency carers. Neither depends solely on the contract’s label.
What if pregnancy leads to fewer shifts?
A cut because of pregnancy can be unlawful discrimination without a service qualifying period. Keep both rotas, ask for the reason in writing and take union or conciliation advice promptly.
Sources
- National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates, GOV.UK.
- National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015, legislation.gov.uk.
- Minimum wage for different types of work, GOV.UK.
- National Minimum Wage Manual: travel and deductions and payments for expenses, HMRC.
- Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake [2021] UKSC 8, National Archives.
- Employment Rights Act 1996, Part II: protection of wages; section 44 and section 100: health and safety protection, legislation.gov.uk.
- Statutory Sick Pay entitlement and employer rates and thresholds for 2026 to 2027, GOV.UK.
- Holiday entitlement and holiday-pay and entitlement reforms, GOV.UK. The latter covers pay-period rounding and the total-pay rules for irregular-hours workers.
- Employment Rights Act 2025 and SI 2026/954: tribunal time-limit commencement and transition, legislation.gov.uk.
- Employment Rights Act implementation timetable, GOV.UK. Used to distinguish commenced rights from scheduled reforms.
- Care workers to be represented in fair pay agreements, Department of Health and Social Care.
- Adult social care workers minimum pay, Scottish Government. Includes the uplift’s commissioning conditions and complaint route.
- Lone-working duties and moving and handling in health and social care, HSE.
- Working Time Regulations 1998, legislation.gov.uk; maximum weekly working hours, GOV.UK.
- Equality Act 2010, section 26: harassment and section 18: pregnancy and maternity discrimination, legislation.gov.uk.
- Workers and Temporary Workers: sponsor guidance and immigration-rule changes HC 997, Home Office.
- Minimum-wage naming round, 3 September 2026, GOV.UK. Source for Elysium’s £330,048.81 underpayment to 1,095 workers, the cross-sector repayment figures and HMRC enforcement on behalf of the Fair Work Agency.
- Certificate of common sponsorship debate, 22 January 2025, Hansard. Reports Work Rights Centre evidence on sponsorship payments; these are survey findings, not whole-sector prevalence.
- Pay and work rights complaints, GOV.UK; Labour Relations Agency, Northern Ireland.