Work-related expenses
Most homecare workers are on a low hourly wage which is already eroded by unpaid working time. The added impact of unpaid work-related expenses makes it hard to justify staying in the job long-term.
Homecare workers are some of the lowest paid workers in society.
We are then put further out-of-pocket thanks to an array of unpaid work-related expenses...
The vast majority of homecare workers drive their own vehicles from visit to visit. This multitude of short journeys wreaks havoc with our cars. We are generally expected to shoulder the full cost of repairs to our vehicles, despite this often being a result of work-related wear and tear.
For those who walk from visit to visit, there is usually no allowance given to cover the cost of weather-appropriate clothing and footwear. Those few homecare workers who take public transport between visits report not being reimbursed for the cost of this travel. Needless to say, those who walk or take public transport are subject to a vast amount more unpaid working time than drivers, due to the increased time it takes to get from visit to visit.
Meanwhile, most of us are required to use work-related apps on our personal phones at work, with no reimbursement for the associated mobile data usage. On a related note, it becomes very difficult to 'switch off' from work outside of working hours, thanks to a constant stream of communications from office staff, colleagues and even the family members of the people we support.
As if that wasn't enough, not all homecare employers pay the full mileage rate set out by HMRC. This leaves homecare workers with the task of claiming a tax refund. Yet this process is prohibitively time-consuming , requiring us to produce postcodes for the start and end point of every single journey: there may be hundreds of these in a single week. This has created a side-industry of companies who encourage homecare workers to send them the information required to make a mileage-related tax claim, processing the claim on the individual's behalf in return for a fee.
Members of Homecare Voices call for:
Provision of the equipment necessary for homecare workers to carry out their role, and fair reimbursement for all work-related expenses, in line with NHS standards.
This means:
1. Ending unpaid working time for homecare workers so that we are better able to afford costly car repairs when the inevitable occurs
2. Issuing homecare workers with work phones, to cover the associated expenses and facilitate our 'right to switch off', as proposed in the government's recent Make Work Pay Plan
3. Calculating mileage based on actual routes taken, rather than 'as the crow flies'
4. Increasing the business mileage rate from 45p to 59p per mile to fairly cover both standing charges and running costs (see Annex 12)
5. Requiring that homecare employers pay the full rate for mileage
6. Reimbursing homecare workers who travel via public transport between visits (see Annex 12)
7. Paying cycling and walking homecare workers 20p per mile for travel, to cover associated expenditure (see Annex 12)
8. Providing homecare workers with a lease car when necessary for completion of duties