UNISON, the UK’s leading public sector union, today slammed private homecare companies for exploiting staff and leaving elderly people without the care and support they need.
Private care companies routinely employ staff on zero hours contracts, that often means huge swings in paid hours for staff. By refusing to pay for travel time between visits, many home carers are effectively paid below the minimum wage.
They are not offered even basic training, including how to administer medicines, despite having to give them out as a part of their work.
Some companies book back-to-back calls with no travel time at all. This forces carers to shave minutes off already packed care slots, and means elderly people are short-changed, missing out on vital support.
Out of their low wages, many care workers have to pay for their own transport, mobile phones and uniforms