Blog: The fight goes on for fairness in social care pay

Last week’s Supreme Court ruling failed to establish that care workers should be paid the national minimum wage for every hour of their sleep-in shifts. The judgement was extremely hard for all of us at UNISON – but especially for the care workers affected. It is now clearer than ever that major reform can be delayed no longer. UNISON has fought a six-year legal battle to win full pay for sleep-ins. Our member Clare Tomlinson Blake had argued, with the support of our award-winning legal team, that every hour of her sleep-in shifts should be paid at the rate of the national minimum wage. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court decided that while workers must be paid national minimum wage rates when they are awake and working, they do not need to be paid this when they are asleep. It goes without saying that the judgment was extremely disappointing for the union and a real blow for thousands of care workers who do sleep-in shifts. But our position remains unchanged: care workers must be paid in full for their sleep-in shifts. So our campaign for fair pay will continue. We are increasing pressure on the government to change the law to make it clear that care workers should be paid at least the national minimum wage for each hour of their sleep-in shifts. We are also writing to care employers and commissioners to make our position clear and to demand they do not cut existing pay rates for already low-paid staff. And we will continue our wider fight for a real living wage – fo...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: Article General secretary's blog care Christina McAnea Source Type: news