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.

Unison, which backed the case originally brought by former Mencap worker Clare Tomlinson-Blake in 2016, said that the ruling was “a huge blow to everyone in social care” but added that it would increase pressure on ministers to take action.

The union vowed to push for legislation to make sleep-in shifts count as working time — and urged employers and local councils commissioning care not to cut existing pay rates for already low-paid staff. 

Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “No-one is a winner from today’s judgement. Everyone loses until the government intervenes to mend a broken system that relies on paying skilled staff a pittance.”

Ms McAnea said that the judgement showed that ministers “can’t disregard the desperate need for major reform a moment longer. That includes a ​well-resourced national care service ​that ensures staff are paid fairly to help resolve soaring job vacancies.”

Labour shadow social-care minister Liz Kendall said: “Crucially, no care workers should see their pay fall as a result of this ruling and it is imperative that the government works with care providers and trade unions to ensure this is the case.”

Ms Tomlinson-Blake won her original 2016 employment tribunal case against learning-disability charity Mencap, a victory subsequently confirmed by the Employment Appeal Tribunal, arguing that she was required to “keep a listening ear out” for emergencies and to provide support when needed.

Mencap took the case to the Court of Appeal, which overturned the tribunals’ decisions but gave leave for a final appeal to the Supreme Court.

After today’s ruling, Ms Tomlinson-Blake said: “Sleep-in shifts aren’t about just being on call — it’s work.

“Staff are constantly on guard to protect the most vulnerable in society. The sound of a cough in the night could mean someone’s in danger.

“It was nice to be clapped by the nation, but that was only temporary. The care workforce should be valued permanently. Respect for staff shows that the people we care for matter too.”

In the Supreme Court’s written ruling, which turned on the interpretation of the minimum-wage legislation, Justice Lady Arden said that “sleep-in workers … are not doing time work for the purposes of the national minimum wage if they are not awake.”

Mencap said it had contested the case only because of the “the devastating unfunded back-pay liabilities facing providers across the sector” — reckoned to total about £400 million.

Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said that the judgement “gives a green light to employers to continue to pay poverty wages to a workforce where women are in the majority.”

Recalling Boris Johnson’s promise “to fix the crisis in social care once and for all with a clear plan we have prepared,” Ms Cartmail declaredt it was time for the Prime Minister to unveil it and deliver a pay rise for care workers.

Care England, which represents private-sector care providers. welcomed the ruling.

Chief executive Martin Green, said: “After a lot of uncertainty, it is useful to have this ruling from the Supreme Court.”