Mencap wins bid to block care staff pay
Charity argues wages owed from unpaid time at work by carers would have amounted to £400 million across sector
Care workers outside of Abbeydale Court Care Home during the Clap for Carers
By Derek Kotz
Industrial reporter
CARE unions reacted angrily to a Supreme Court ruling today that workers are not entitled to the minimum wage for part of their “sleep-in” shifts.
Judges upheld a Court of Appeal decision that carers must receive the minimum wage only for the time when they are required to be awake for work, not when sleeping or resting.
Demanding an urgent change in the law to protect already low-paid workers, unions and opposition leaders said that the case underlined a need for root-and-branch reform of the care sector, which is floundering after years of neglect, underfunding and privatisation.
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