Paying for petrol to/from elderly clients

Helpfulone

Hi there,

I wonder if anyone can help.

My sister has just started working for a 'care' agency when she's training to be a support worker and goes round giving out medicine etc. She's been told that she has to go to client's houses and use her own car - BUT - she can't claim petrol. She also has to buy her own uniform the employer doesn't issue this.

I don't think this is right - her basic salary is more or less the minimum wage, it's split shifts and if she's having to use her own petrol I think that would take her officially below the minimum wage.

Has anyone else been in this situation?

Smi1er

Paying Fuel simply isn't enough anyway. Wear & tear comes into the equation, as does increased insurance as she has to have business use. This is why many companies pay 45p per mile instead.


If they're not paying 40-45p per mile then simply ask them to hire her a car. If they say no to either then resign

butler_helen

My friend had this, she had to cover costs herself, although she was on a higher wage. It always seemed really unfair to me! (She was working for Allied Health Care).

Helpfulone

Smi1er wrote: »

Paying Fuel simply isn't enough anyway. Wear & tear comes into the equation, as does increased insurance as she has to have business use. This is why many companies pay 45p per mile instead.


If they're not paying 40-45p per mile then simply ask them to hire her a car. If they say no to either then resign

But nowadays it's so hard to get a job. I was wondering if the company was breaking any laws by doing this.

Nebulous2

There has been a lot of publicity about poor conditions in social care. These often seem to be illegal - breaching minimum wage legislation. I don't know about travelling expenses, but they need to pay her travelling time.

See this link. The second provider mentioned was a social care provider who had to pay £600,000 in arrears. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/hmrc-secures-record-46m-minimum-wage-arrears-for-underpaid-workers

Helpfulone

Thanks for all your replies. It just seems so unfair but I'll look at the claiming for business mileage thing.

KentishLady

And she can apply for a tax allowance for the uniform too as well which will increase her tax allowance now a little bit. Your friend will have to claim the tax back on her mileage expenses at the end of the tax year.

As others have alluded your friend's employer must pay at least minimum wage for all the time your friend is at work incuding travel time between calls. The clock starts ticking when she arrives at her first call or her work base and ends when she leaves her last call or work base. This is definitely worth double checking.

KL.

thriftytwosome

There was an item for discussion on Radio Solent this morning about this very subject.
One employee took her case to ACAS and was told she should have travelling time included. Without it she was earning below the minimum wage. The care company then went into liquidation! The company that took over employed all the carers employed by the previous owner except the woman that complained!
Only 3 of the 60 firms approached in the investigation paid for the time travelling between clients.

Something is definately wrong in the industry.

cazziebo

KentishLady wrote: »

And she can apply for a tax allowance for the uniform too as well which will increase her tax allowance now a little bit. Your friend will have to claim the tax back on her mileage expenses at the end of the tax year.

As others have alluded your friend's employer must pay at least minimum wage for all the time your friend is at work incuding travel time between calls. The clock starts ticking when she arrives at her first call or her work base and ends when she leaves her last call or work base. This is definitely worth double checking.

KL.

Not strictly true if the contract is zero hours. If someone does a morning run with two calls 8am and 9am and then a tea run 5pm and 6pm then that would be four hour day. Inbetween time is not classed as working time.

cazziebo

thriftytwosome wrote: »

Something is definately wrong in the industry.

Wholeheartedly agree. We place so little value on social care that we are not prepared to pay for it. It's a budget that is always squeezed for council/NHS funded care, and just look at all the threads on these boards about how to avoid paying for care.

The reality is that the whoever commissions the work only pays for actual care delivered, not travel time/ training time/admin time etc. Some companies will skimp on that which makes for poor employment, good companies will do all these things, work ethically, deliver high standards of care but struggle to pay a decent wage.

The care sector is important not just because there is a growing need for delivery of care. It's also important because it's a growing sector of employment, especially for women.We need to recognise this and ensure that it's quality employment with proper terms and conditions.