The Care Workers’ Charity welcomes the publication of Homecare Voices’ report Behind Closed Doors: The Realities of Employment in Domiciliary Care, which highlights the challenges faced by many homecare workers across the UK. The worker-led research offers valuable insight into the day-to-day realities of domiciliary care and raises significant concerns about pay practices, rota instability and workforce wellbeing across the sector.
The report finds that headline hourly rates in homecare can often mask the reality of unpaid travel and waiting time. According to the findings, 72% of respondents are paid only for ‘contact time’, meaning they are paid solely for the time spent delivering care rather than for the full working day. As a result, advertised hourly rates can appear significantly higher than workers’ actual earnings. The findings also raise important questions about oversight where local authorities commission homecare services but may not consistently monitor whether workers are paid for all working time.
For many domiciliary care workers, this means spending long days travelling between visits while being paid for only a portion of that time. The report also highlights the impact this can have on rest and working conditions. A typical homecare day can begin early in the morning and finish late in the evening, raising concerns about legal rest entitlements. The report found that 87% of respondents do not always receive the required 11 hours’ rest between shifts, while 69% do not consistently receive their minimum legal days off.
When discussing reform, it is essential to understand how changes will benefit both care workers, the people they support and the sector. The report highlights that 81% of respondents said the people they care for regularly experience loneliness, while 56% identified having enough time to meet social as well as practical needs as the most important factor in improving wellbeing. When care workers are restricted to short visit windows, the impact on people drawing on care can be significant. Reform for domiciliary care workers therefore has wider implications for the quality of care across the sector.
Too often, discussions about adult social care take a one-size-fits-all approach. However, this report underlines the need for workforce reform that recognises the specific realities of domiciliary care. Around 70% of respondents said that payment for all working time would be the most important change to improve retention. Among migrant homecare workers, 67% reported that their main sponsor does not provide enough hours to meet minimum salary requirements.
Ensuring care workers’ voices are heard is essential to delivering meaningful, long-term change in adult social care. Research such as this provides vital evidence that can help ensure policy decisions reflect the realities of the workforce
Responding to the report, Karolina Gerlich, CEO of The Care Workers’ Charity, said:
“This report shines an important light on the realities of domiciliary care work. There is growing recognition that the social care workforce must be better valued and supported, and reforms such as the forthcoming Fair Pay Agreement signal an intention to address long-standing inequalities. However, this research reminds us that pay alone does not tell the full story.
Domiciliary care workers provide highly skilled, complex support that enables people to remain independent in their own homes and communities. The sector cannot function without them. Ensuring that workers are paid fairly for all the time they work, have stable hours, and can take proper rest is not only a workforce issue. It is fundamental to the quality, dignity and sustainability of care itself.”
The Care Workers’ Charity supports the report’s recommendations and emphasises the need for stronger oversight and enforcement of employment standards within domiciliary care. We call on the Government to:
- Ensure full compliance with National Minimum Wage legislation across the homecare sector, including payment for all working time such as travel and waiting time between visits.
- Improve commissioning and funding models so that providers are able to pay care workers fairly for all the time they work, rather than only for contact time.
- Placing care workers’ experience at the centre of policy development, ensuring that reforms reflect the realities of those delivering care and support.
For further information, please contact Sophie Henry at The Care Workers’ Charity at sophie@thecwc.org.uk.