Social Care News

Warning over carers' and unpaid travel time – homecare firm could face group legal action

A homecare company, MiHomecare, could face a group action lawsuit by care workers over unpaid travel time after it paid £1,250 to one carer in an out of court settlement.

Caroline Barlow had sued the company for not paying for her travel time.

The company says that since last year, it has been correcting carers' pay where it has been found to be wrong.

• In January MiHomecare paid up to £2,500 each to carers for previously unpaid travel time.

The law firm Leigh Day, which brought this case, is now considering bringing a group action against MiHomecare and is appealing for other care workers to come forward. They say hundreds of carers - both current and former employees of MiHomecare - could now be owed thousands of pounds for unpaid travel time.

Care workers who look after people in their homes, helping them to wash, dress, eat and take medication, have long argued that they have been paid less than the minimum wage because they were not being paid for the time it took them to travel between clients.

Ms Barlow worked for MiHomecare in Devon where the roads she drove down were often narrow country lanes. It could take her more than half an hour to travel between her elderly clients. That's why she was owed more than £1,000 despite having worked for the company for less than six months.

Read the full story

• BBC News: Care company Mihomecome could face legal action over wages