Charites and some Care Organisations could be facing a collective Bill of over£400 million if Minimum Wage back payments are enforced.
The problem stems from overnight payments to Care Workers which usually amounted to between £25 and £35 pounds. Following a tribunal ruling it was said that these workers should have been paid the minimum wage even those the hours they worked meant that they could be asleep.
But whilst we’ve heard the arguments put forward from the charities this is what The UNISON Union has to say.
MENCAP has been in dispute with UNISON over its failure to pay staff the minimum wage when providing on-call night care. Staff will now receive an average of £7.50 per hour for every sleep in .. and this commenced in April 2017.
UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis said, “It’s welcome that MENCAP are now fulfilling their legal obligation to their employees and paying staff what they’re owed. Care workers who provide round-the-clock care for the elderly and disabled should be paid at least the legal minimum. But more must still be done to ensure pay laws are properly enforced in social care”.
MENCAP has appealed an ‘Employment Tribunal’ case taken by UNISON relating to back pay for care staff undertaking sleep-ins. The appeal date has not yet been set.
Read more about this from The Guardian here